Ties that Bind
by David Fishwick
Summary: After the fall of Sunnydale the Scooby gang are spread throughout the world what happens when they are summoned to L.A after NFA to defeat the vampires, demons and the forces of darkness that are on the rampage in L.A? Spuffy, Xander/Cordelia and Angel/Nina.
1. Chapter 1

Ties that Bind chapter 1

It was a rainy day in London when most people would be indoors. The Watcher's Council was in a new building after the old one was blown up by agents of the First Evil a year previously. Passer's-by would have seen the sign on the building, reading 'Summers and Giles Antiquities', a cover for the organization's true purpose- protecting humanity from the forces of the darkness, whether they were demons, vampires or just plain evil humans. A man in a suit was on the telephone, but as he hung up, he saw a pretty brunette walk in.

"Ah, Dawn, how are you?" asked the Englishman, smiling at the pretty brunette, who was looking rather professional in a skirt and a smart red top.

"I'm fine thanks, Giles. Who was that on the phone?" replied the brunette. She was Dawn Summers, sister to the legendary Buffy Summers who was known in the underworld as the Queen of the Slayers. Buffy spent her time in Italy training the Slayers there while her younger sister was studying to become a Watcher.

"That was Riley Finn if you remember him," said Giles.

"Yeah, he used to date my sister, but he left her for some operation in the jungle. So, what does he want?" replied Dawn as she remembered the only human that her sister dated, because for some reason, Buffy mostly dated vampires such as Angel or Spike, and was now going out with a being known as 'The Immortal', who was something that could not be defined as a either vampire or a demon. Dawn hoped her sister was happy in Italy, because she did miss her big sister despite her bouts of overprotectiveness.

"It seems that the Council has been asked to help with the situation in Los Angeles," said Giles.

"L.A… isn't that Angel's turf" asked Dawn, looking shocked. She remembered the implanted memories of her sister's first love- the dark-haired brooding vampire who always looked sad, not to mention the time at Sunnydale High when Angelus grabbed her by the throat.

"Yes, it seems that the city has been overrun by demons and vampires according to Riley and his men. No one has heard from Angel or his team. Some believe that he is dead after crossing his bosses," replied Giles. Maybe he had misjudged Angel but earlier on there were good reasons for the Council to keep their distance.

"So, we have to do the clean-up," surmised Dawn. If Angel really was dead, Buffy would be devastated; people don't forget their first loves even if their relationship went terribly wrong. Besides, from what she heard from Willow, Angel's team were good people and their deaths were a blow for the forces of good.

"That's right. I need you to call everyone- including your sister- and get them to L.A," said Giles softly. What would Buffy or Dawn say if they knew that he had been hiding Spike's return from them? He had thought that Spike and Angel lost their souls again because they were involved with Wolfram and Hart together but news coming in from Riley seemed to suggest otherwise. He hoped that his surrogate daughter could set aside personal feelings to see to the big picture, but it was unlikely- Buffy and Spike formed a bond that was not easily explained during the fight against the First Evil.

"Okay, Andrew and I can ring everyone… who is our nearest operative to L.A?" asked Dawn, looking concerned. The idea of her friends and family going to a city that, according to CNN, had suffered a massive earthquake and was most likely now the playground of demons and vampires wasn't one she was too fond of.

"Faith Lehane. Our intel suggests she is in Stanford, California," said Giles; he hoped that they were not too late in taking back the city from the forces of evil.

"Great and can we trust her?" asked Dawn and she remembered the dark Slayer. While she had helped to defeat the First Evil, she had once been evil herself, and had threatened her mother and tried to kill her sister when she had woken up from her coma.

"Now Dawn, Faith has made amends and she has done good work in Cleveland, Stanford and helped to defeat the First," Giles reprimanded.

"I know Giles, believe me, I know," replied Dawn, sighing.

Meanwhile, in L.A, a black vampire with a shaven head had walked into a building followed by several more vampires with menacing grins.

"Who dares to interrupt the rest of Kr'ph, the demon Lord of Westwood?" barked a red skinned demon.

"My name is Charles Gunn, Red Boy, and I am here to collect your master's orb because Wolfram and Hart want their property back," said Gunn smirking evilly.

"Wolfram and Hart is gone. Angel betrayed them and the vampire with a soul is gone for good," boomed a new voice. It belonged to a blue-skinned being that was seated on a throne as servants fed him human flesh, much to Gunn's revulsion.

"Not gone, but rebuilding. We want our property back or you die," threatened Gunn.

"No! _You_ will die! Boys, get them!" snapped Kr'ph. The fight was on. Gunn punched one demon in the head as his boys swarmed in like ants to take on the demons defending their master. A female vampire started shooting with a gun and several demons dropped, riddled with bullets.

"This is unacceptable! You must defend me, your master!" screamed Kr'ph, feeling fear for the first time since his takeover of Westwood.

"Now, you will negotiate with us. All the Senior Partners want is the orb of Ramras," said Gunn, smiling. He knew that the demon was not leaving here alive. He extended his hand and one of his gang passed him a gun as he fired at the demon Lord. The being dropped dead with a hole in the head and the surviving demons ran for their lives, leaving their master dead on the floor of his own palace.

"So where was Orb of Rama or whatever you said?" said the female, blonde vampire looking around in bewilderment.

"According to our source, Kr'ph swallowed it. Does anyone have an axe? I need to cut him open," said Gunn.

"Why does it have to be martial arts? An Uzi would have saved your ass by now," commented another vampire to the dead demons.

"Yes, it would have, but now I asked for an axe to cut open the demon," said Gunn impatiently, looking annoyed.

"Eww! That's just wrong," said Harmony, making a face. Since joining up with Gunn and his fellow vampires, she was having the time of her life because there was no Angel or Spike bossing her around; she wasn't a great fighter, so she often used guns and it had worked this time.

"Here, boss," said a skinny redhaired vampire, passing Gunn an axe. The black vampire took it and began dismembering the huge blue demon, before sticking his hand in and picking up a circular shaped object.

"Great work everyone. Harmony, let's go out to eat," said Gunn.

"Sure, thing my chocolate bear," said Harmony beaming at her boyfriend with a sickly-sweet grin.

"Don't call me that," snapped Gunn; several vampires sniggered before Gunn glared them into silence. The gang left feeling ecstatic at their completed mission.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 of the ties that bind

Charles Gunn, Harmony, and their men returned to what _used _to the L.A office of Wolfram and Hart before Angel betrayed the Circle of the Black Thorn. Now it was a nothing but a smoking ruin. A ghost and two humans were waiting outside the wreck of a building. It was after sundown- the vampires had been resting in a house (they ate the previous owners) to avoid the harsh glare of the sun.

"Did you acquire the Orb?" asked Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. He was dressed in a suit and tie as a punishment from the Senior Partners. He did not want to serve as the new Liaison but there was no choice- the Senior Partners owned the contract that he had signed with Wolfram and Hart. All he could do was make the best of a very bad situation. Besides, if he tried to resist the orders from the Senior Partners, they would punish him terribly… until now, he didn't know that a ghost could feel pain.

"Yes, English, I have," replied Gunn as he produced the circular object that he had been sent to get, a smirk plastered on his face. He blamed Angel for his condition and the news was good. Both Angel and his buddy Spike were probably being tortured by the Senior Partners. Although, there was still a part of him wanted to deal the final blow towards his former friend that got him turned into a vampire.

"And Kr'ph?" asked Lindsey McDonald, looking like a typical cowboy with his long hair. He was surprised to have been resurrected by the Senior Partners after Lorne shot him once they had completed their mission against the Circle of the Black Thorn. But he was intent on surviving and hopefully completing what he had come back to do in L.A.

"Dead and cut open," smirked Gunn as several vampires laughed evilly.

"Good. The Senior Partners are pleased; this orb plays an important role in their plans. Without the orb, their next phase of their plans would be impossible," said Wesley. He thought that seeing his formerly _human_ friend as a vampire was rather disturbing, and the Gunn that he, Wesley, knew never wanted to be a vampire. After all, his sister had been one as well. The black man had to stake his own sister and would later join Angel and the team. But Angel was gone- probably being tortured or worse, and L.A was under the rule of the demon lords such as the late Kr'ph. He was existing as the liaison to the Senior Partners which meant that he was probably on the dark side.

"Which is…" asked Gunn

"Well, as I am sure that you can probably guess, the Watcher's Council would not allow the humans of L.A to be enslaved or slaughtered by the demons or vampires. The Senior Partners feel that we need beings who can kill the Slayers," said Wesley, looking cool and collected.

"Slayers like Buffy," interjected Harmony, looking fearful. She remembered her fellow classmate turned Slayer all too well from their clashes in Sunnydale; Buffy Summers was a dangerous opponent because she was well supported by friends and family. Harmony had been jealous of her ex's infatuation with the Slayer. The idea of multiple Slayers being sent to L.A was enough to worry her.

"Yes, Buffy Summers might well be one of the Slayers sent by Giles to wipe out the demons and vampires in L.A," replied Wesley. He had blamed Buffy and Giles for not helping Angel when the dark vampire had tried to get help for Fred. She had been the love of his Wesley's life when Illyria had infected her, but he did not want her or friend's dead.

"What kind of beings do the Partners think are capable of taking on a Slayer like Buffy Summers?" asked Lindsey. He had read files on Buffy Summers. The Slayer who defeated many of the evil beings such as the Master, Adam, Glory and now even the First. She also sent Angel to hell during her junior year of high school. Also, her team had changed thousands of years of tradition by activating all the world's potential Slayers. She was a worthy opponent, he thought.

"Well, what I can tell you is that the Orb opens a portal to a parallel world. The Senior Partners want Angelus from a world in which he was never cursed with his humanity, his gang too. They feel that between Angelus, Darla and William the Bloody they should be able to send any Slayers they want to their graves," said Wesley grimly.

"Are you and the Senior Partners insane?" shouted Gunn. The idea of the evil counterparts of Angel and Spike being in this dimension made him feel anger and fear. Neither of the older vampires would play well with others- they might try to take over his gang and treat him as a servant! Neither of those things sat well with him. Harmony put a hand on his arm in an attempt to calm him down.

"I'm with Gunn on this one. This sounds like a recipe for disaster- don't forget that the Angel from our dimension betrayed us _with_ his soul, along with Spike. Who's to say that the soulless versions of Angel and Spike won't do the same to us for fun?" put in Eve, a pretty brunette as she held hands with Lindsey. She had hated and feared Angel and from the knowledge that the Partners had given her when she was the liaison to Angel when he was CEO of Wolfram and Hart, Eve knew Angelus was a lot worse and even more unpredictable.

"Matters are going to be so because the Senior Partners wants it to be so. Anyone who has a complaint, please, feel free to take up with my bosses. Maybe they will be generous and give you a quick death as opposed to a slow and torturous one," replied Wesley coldly. He never liked Eve when he was alive, the woman had caused her fair share of trouble.

"I do not believe that would be necessary," said Lindsey as he gestured to Eve to stop her complaining. He never met Angelus, although he had seen Angel when he was close to the edge, like when he let Darla and Drusilla kill all the members of the Special Projects at Holland Manner's house all those years ago.

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Meanwhile, in Rio De Janiero, the temperature was nearly 45 degrees and it was very sunny. Willow was by the pool, watching her girlfriend Kennedy swim lengths of the swimming pool, a part of the mansion paid for by Kennedy's father. He was a wealthy American businessmen and Kennedy was his only daughter. They had a close relationship even though the older man could not understand his daughter's involvement in the Council rather than helping to run the family's business. Both Kennedy and Willow had visited other parts of South America before settling in Brazil, everyone seemed to be welcoming and friendly. Willow was wearing her sun hat and had been slathered up in sunscreen. Finally, Kennedy got out the pool. Willow approached her girlfriend and wiped off the water with a red towel.

"How was the swim honey," asked Willow, admiring her girlfriend's muscular body in a black bikini. She was the opposite of her former girlfriend Tara who had been blonde, shy, and quiet, but with a hidden core of strength. Kennedy was loud, brash and volatile but had a hidden side of caring that she showed to her friends and family. Willow felt so grateful and happy to be with her. After all that she had been through such as falling in love with Tara, losing her to a gunshot from a petty human and then turning to dark magic to flay Warren alive, she had Kennedy, who had helped her to heal and realize that life is still beautiful.

"It was good Red and it is just the thing to do on a hot day," replied Kennedy with a loving smile. She had loved her older redhead from the time they had met which when she had gone with Giles to Sunnydale to hide from the assassins of the First. Even though she did not understand the magic she tried her best to help or to take Willow's mind off it by kissing her and… other things. The couple kissed passionately, only stopping when they had to pull back for air.

"Wow," said Kennedy with a dreamy expression. Willow grinned at her.

"How is the training of the new Slayers going?" asked Willow, changing the subject. Kennedy sat on a chair facing Willow.

"Going good, but many of them are annoyingly stubborn. Was I that stubborn with Buffy?" replied Kennedy. She felt some sympathy for the older blonde, not much though as she couldn't understand her soft spot for Spike, a vampire of all things. She oversaw the training of the Slayers that Willow had identified in Brazil, but unfortunately some of the trainees were either confused by the idea of demons and vampires or thought that Slaying was a joke.

"Well, it was a shame that you and Buffy clashed in Sunnydale, because I would like my best friend and my girlfriend to get along. Things still worked out, though. The First Evil was scrunched for good," said Willow.

"Yes, it did. I'm going inside to get some water; do you want anything?" asked Kennedy.

"Ms. Willow!" shouted a new voice belonging to their maid, Maria, a plump brunette who was fluent in Portuguese and often accompanied Willow to the markets to buy food.

"Yes, Maria?" called back Willow.

"Telephone call for Willow from Miss Dawn Summers. She's ringing from London," replied Maria.

"Okay, I'm on the way," said Willow.

"What does Dawn want? Has something happened to Buffy or any of the others?" asked Kennedy in concern.

"I don't know," replied Willow. She felt worried too because Dawn hardly rang. She walked back into the house and answered the call. After speaking with Dawn, she had found Kennedy in the kitchen drinking a bottle of water.

"We need to go L.A right now. Can you take time off from training the Slayers?" said Willow looking very serious and concerned.

"What's happened? I thought that _vampire with a soul_ was supposed to be protecting L.A. Or at least that's what you said about him," asked Kennedy, rolling her eyes as she spoke of Angel.

"According to Dawn, demons and vampires have taken over the city. Some people say that Angel and his whole team are dead," replied Willow; she felt some grief for Wesley and the others, they did not deserve to die like this.

"Okay, if you are going, then I am going. I will ask Pilar to cover my shifts," replied Kennedy with determination. Willow had started packing their stuff.

"Thanks, love," said Willow once she saw that Kennedy was now ready to go.

"Are we going to teleport there?" asked Kennedy.

"Yes, just hold my hand and do not let go," advised Willow.

"It is just like our relationship then" said Kennedy softly holding her hand as they stepped into the portal that Willow had created with her magic.

Thanks to Starway Man for his reviews and please remember to read and review.


	3. Chapter 3

Ties that Bind chapter 3

AN: I only own the plot and everything else belongs to Joss Whedon.

A petite blonde was returning to her house after a night of partying at an exclusive nightclub in Rome. If she had listened to her new, beau a dark handsome man with movie star looks she would have been there until past 2 am but she was feeling tired from all that dancing. So, she decided to call it a night and go home. However, she noticed that someone was waiting for her at her doorstep and Buffy fingered a stake in her pocket of her expensive and fashionable jacket. Her visitor appeared to be a short man with a fedora and she remembered who this was. Whistler the balance demon who had visited her when she was about to fight Angel's demonic counterpart Angelus. She immediately stopped thinking about those days as they were still painful to relive and the pain of sending Angel to hell was up there with losing her mom or when Spike sacrificed himself to defeat the First's army in Sunnydale a year previously.

"Hello again Buffy" said Whistler

"What the hell are you doing on my doorstep at nearly 1 am" snapped Buffy looking suspicious.

"Waiting for you because I need to tell you something important" said Whistler looking very serious.

"Okay let's hear it" said Buffy sighing and then letting them in with her key. Andrew was asleep on the sofa. While feeling some fondness for the nerd Buffy would rather have had Dawn as her flatmate because then she could keep an eye on her. Her younger sister was the last link to their mother who had died from cancer.

"As you know I do work for the Powers. They tell me things and I go and do them. Now I need you to help Angel and the surviving members of his team one last time" said Whistler

"But there have been many rumours about Angel some said that he had been corrupted by Wolfram and Hart or is now Angelus" said Buffy remembering what Giles had told her. But Faith refused to believe that. While Buffy herself was unsure on what to believe but she had trusted Giles who had been more of a father to her than her own father.

"While it's true Angel had been the CEO of Wolfram and Hart in Los Angeles. He had his reasons to do what he did and these were out of his good intentions. Unfortunately, those good intentions have led him and the other vampire with a soul to a hell being run by the Senior Partners" said Whistler

"Spike is dead!" snapped Buffy remembering the bleach blond vampire burn up in Sunnydale which ended up destroying the town and saving their lives. Her eyes filled with tears still remembering Spike's sacrifice to save them.

"He came back within this year according to the Powers" replied Whistler and he remembered Buffy as being rather violent and impatient when he had first met her.

Andrew began to stir and look around sleepily because he was awoken by the noise.

"Hey Buffy and who is the guest" croaked Andrew interrupting the conversation.

"This is Whistler and he was going to spill about Spike being back. You or Giles better not have known about this" said Buffy coolly with a tinge of menace in her voice.

"Actually, he and Angel did visit you in Rome but I told them that you were with the Immortal and were happy" squeaked Andrew feeling fearful and he did not want Buffy trying to slap him with her Slayer strength or something. He had told Giles that this might blow up in their faces but the older Englishman had refused to listen and said that it was all about protecting Buffy.

"I will deal with you later Andrew. Now Whistler talk! Is Angel good or bad? Where the hell is, he and Spike?" ordered Buffy. Andrew quickly left mumbling something about phoning Giles in the morning.

"Angel still has a soul and he and Spike are being tortured in a hell dimension controlled by the Senior Partners because Angel betrayed the Circle of the Black Thorn" said Whistler looking unruffled by the blond Slayer's fury.

"It sounds really bad that they are being tortured. But it is good that he still has a soul and what the hell is the Circle of the Black Thorn?" said Buffy because she never had come across that name before. She also felt another emotion; guilt that she did not contact Angel all this time or that she went along with what Giles said about Angel probably being evil being the CEO of Wolfram and Hart without asking for some proof. While their relationship had always been tragic, she never wanted her first love dead or tortured in some hell dimension because sending him to one was bad enough. As for Spike she wanted an explanation on why he had never contacted her and had joined Angel's team. Did he believe that she never loved him and her last words were a lie? Or did he want a rest from her after their tumultuous relationship? She did not know whether she was going to punch Spike or kiss him when she next saw him or possibly both.

"The Circle of the Black Thorn are the Senior Partner's direct representatives on earth. Their role was to keep the apocalypse planned by the Senior Partners on schedule and many evil beings see the position as an honour. Fortunately, they are all dead as Angel infiltrated the group and killed them along with his team but many of them like Wesley are dead" explained Whistler

"Oh god" mumbled Buffy in some shock and while she never liked the younger Englishman when he was in Sunnydale but according to Faith and Willow, Wesley had been tougher than he was when they had visited Angel's team after breaking out of prison or restoring Angel's soul. However, a part of her had wanted to punch Wesley for bringing Angelus back.

"You are going to receive a call from your sister tomorrow morning about going to L.A which is now burning in the aftermath. Will you come and help or will you stay here with your new beau and forget about what Angel or Spike meant to you" replied Whistler

"Of course, I will help and they mean a lot to me in different ways," replied Buffy now feeling determined despite the lateness of the hour.

"I thought you might say that, by the way when you get to L.A you should ask Faith's new boyfriend about his connection to Angel because you might find the story interesting" said Whistler

"Did you say that Faith has a boyfriend?" asked Buffy in some shock while she remembered the dark Slayer as a get some and disappear kind of woman. However, her relationship with Robin had lasted for some time. But the petite blonde was now curious about what Whistler had meant about Faith's boyfriend having a connection to Angel.

"That's right and an operative of the Powers will contact you at the Hyperion to pinpoint the location of your souled vampires" replied Whistler and he blamed the machinations of the rogue power Jasmine for the state Angel was in. However, it seemed that after regaining his memories the kid was proving to be a potential ally and might be worth recruiting to assist his father. If he had not returned to L.A to look for Angel.

"How will I recognize him" asked Buffy

"The operative from the Powers is actually a she and she will help you and your team to clean up the mess" replied Whistler before leaving and shutting the door.

Buffy went to bed her mind filled with images of Angel, Spike and L.A burning.

Meanwhile in Cairo, Egypt Xander Harris awoke in his bed as he normally did and mentally reviewed his to do list. He then got into the shower and being in Egypt was a change from being in Sunnydale as the country was much hotter. he had visited Algeria, Sudan and the neighbouring countries on the look out for Slayers and he sent many of them back to be trained at the nearest Slayer school in Cairo. When he got out of the shower the phone rang and he went to answer it.

"Yes, Xander speaking, oh it's you Dawnie" said Xander with some pleasure as he always got on well with the youngest Summers. Then Dawn explained the reason for a call which was about Angel and his team being supposedly dead and L.A burning in the aftermath with the demons and vampires taking advantage of the chaos.

"Typical Angel always making a mess that he expects us to clean up. Ok I will catch a flight to L.A and meet the gang there. It will be nice to see your sister, Riley and Willow again" said Xander before dressing and packing his suitcase. He hailed a taxi and went to the nearest airport and he hoped that Buffy was doing alright. He would shed no tears if Angel or Wesley were dead but he was worried about what this might to do to Buffy. the last time Angel had died Buffy left town filled with grief from sending Angel to hell. He could now understand the pain that the death of a loved one could bring because he had been grieving for Anya for some time. Although a part of him could not forget his first love Cordelia Chase. The queen bee of Sunnydale High and he wondered what would have happened if they had gotten back together. Would they have got married by now and had a few kids? He shook his head to clear himself of such thoughts. He shook his head to clear himself of such thoughts Cordelia was also dead and there was no point in thinking about what ifs because it was time to focus on helping his friends on defeating the supernatural monsters that were on the loose in L.A.

At the same time in L.A both Lindsey and Eve were in bed together in their new apartment. They could not go back to their old one because the Senior Partners knew the location and might be tempted to clean up any loose ends.

"It is a bold step to bring alternate version of Angelus, William the Bloody along with Darla, Drusilla to this dimension." Commented Lindsey lying on his back with Eve curled up next to him.

"Well honey the Partners have always wanted Angel under their thumb and maybe they thought with Angel out of the way that they could begin again with an Angelus who was never cursed because beings with souls are always unpredictable" said Eve frowning as she regarded her lover.

"Well Angel or Angelus will not play well with others. I remember doing the research on him after Angel kicked Russell out of the window when he arrived in this city" replied Lindsey remembering that day when the dark vampire who would later cause the firm a lot of trouble had started by kicking one of his own clients out of the window. Lindsey remembered cursing in frustration because Russell Winters had brought in a lot of money to the firm and was a valuable client.

"That's true but the whole plan has given by Partners to Wesley and Gunn and if it goes wrong then they would be blamed and not us" replied Eve

"Why don't they want alternate version of William the Bloody because wasn't the firm's plan all about Angel rather than Spike" said Lindsey curiously

"They probably want alternate version of William the Bloody because of his proven track record of killing Slayers and not many vampires or demons would willingly seek a duel with a Slayer" replied Eve wisely.

"What about bringing Darla and Drusilla to this dimension what is that about?" asked Lindsey remembering the insane English vampire who had massacred his colleagues apart from Lilah in Holland's wine cellar with some fear. While his relationship with Darla had been complicated as they both had different reasons to cause Angel some damage. While Darla had wanted her Angelus back. Lindsey was working under Holland's orders to what he did which included bringing in Drusilla to sire Darla back into a vampire.

"Probably to appease Angelus and William the Bloody If I know the Partners. By the way I hope that your old feelings for Darla don't resurface because you are with me and the Darla from this dimension killed herself so that her son could be born" said Eve with a hint of jealously about her boyfriend's former relationship with Angel's sire.

"I do not intend to start any relationship with an alternate Darla because she is a vampire and might try to kill me. If she doesn't, then Angelus will and it would not be quick at all" snapped Lindsey.

"Well that's good that you remember that honey" said Eve now calming down.

"You gave up immortality for me while Darla went running back to Angel while she was pregnant" Lindsey reminded her before they kissed passionately.

"It would be good we could undermine Gunn in the eyes of the Senior Partners because if he gets disgraced by trying to sabotage the plans of the Senior Partners out of hatred for Angel or Angelus. Then the Senior Partners will have to turn to you and me to run the L.A branch once it is rebuilt" said Eve suddenly after pulling back from kissing Lindsey.

"Yeah, that sounds like a future worth thinking about darlin" replied Lindsey smiling before heading to the bathroom to take a shower. Eve smiled to herself and she hoped by encouraging Lindsey's ambition that he would become an ally and protector for her against those who wanted her dead. Plus helping her boyfriend to run the rebuilt branch of Wolfram and Hart does not sound bad at all she thought.

Later that evening at a nightclub near Stanford University a pretty brunette about 5 foot 5 with dark brown eyes and her younger 5 foot 8 boyfriend bumped and ground in time to the pounding techno beat and most of the people were doing the same thing apart from a few who were dancing on their own or were having a drink at the bar. However, two men with pale complexions wearing leather jackets had walked in. The brunette nodded to her boyfriend. Faith immediately hit the vampire wearing a Hell's Angel leather jacket in the face with a right hook.

"Oh, wow you are a Slayer and I am going to be a legend for taking you out despite the number of you that are running around these days" snarled the vampire

"I am not one of those recently called Slayers. My name is Faith and you might have heard of me" replied the brunette smiling. She lands a leaping left kick to her opponent and then follows with another right hook to the opponent's face knocking him down.

"It's that crazy bitch of a Slayer" commented another vampire and there had been tales in the underworld of the dark Slayer who was known to be vicious and had been on the dark side. Although other demons had dismissed it as idle rumours, whoever heard of a Slayer aiding the dark side rather than stopping it they had thought.

"Crazy? Maybe but bitch oh yes" growled Faith at the vampire.

A young man with light brown hair and blue eyes joined Faith in fighting the vampires. He hits the other vampire with a left cross sending him flying back. His opponent got up rather stunned. Meanwhile Faith was tackling her opponent with a left cross and then ducks a right cross. She follows up with a kick to his chest. She then paused to take a breath.

"Faith! look out" said Connor as he noticed the vampire had lunged at her with a knife. He had quickly staked his vampire who was rather amazed at seeing a human fighting with a strength near enough to a Slayer.

"Thanks stud" replied Faith and she twisted to avoid the swing. She then kicked his wrist making the vampire curse in anger as he had dropped the knife. She then staked the vampire while the other club goers had run for the doors seeing the fight unfold. Many of them would report seeing people turn to dust but that was crazy right? Maybe it was performance art or something they thought.

A few hours later they were breathing heavily in bed together and they were in Connor's apartment that was rented by his wealthy, adoptive family. Faith stroked his hair and she thought that there was something sexy about being with someone who could keep up with her in Slaying or in the bedroom. She would not have to hold back with him unlike with Robin or many of the boyfriends that she had since becoming the Slayer. She also knew that he was Angel's son and remembered being annoyed by the brash kid when she was broken out of prison by Wesley to hunt down Angelus and the Beast. Although this new version was different and much more stable.

"Wow that was good" breathed Connor

"Yeah and you rocked my world stud" replied Faith with a smirk and then she went to sleep curled up next to him.

Connor lay in bed thinking he had met Faith again when she came to Stanford to investigate reports of someone on campus fighting demons and vampires. They had fought vampires together who had been menacing a fraternity house and one thing led to another. Now his evenings were spent dancing, patrolling, sex and then sleeping but not necessarily in that order. They had a lot in common because Faith had told him about the Mayor and trying to kill Buffy and his father. While she had learned about his experiences with Holtz and later Jasmine.

"Hello kiddo" said a voice

"Who are you" said Connor looking suspicious

"My name is Doyle and I was a friend of your natural father Angel before I died" replied Doyle

"How did you die" asked Connor feeling rather strange at conversing with a ghost although his mother had once tried to save him from doing something terrible.

"Saving my friends including your father and Cordelia along with the Listers from the Scourge" said Doyle wistfully.

"What's the Scourge?" asked Connor quizzically

"You should ask your father that question and you are needed by the Powers to go to L.A to save him" said Doyle

"Where is he?" asked Connor feeling some concern for his biological father even though he was the man that he knew the least. This was because he did not want to know Angel at first because his mind had been filled with Holtz's hatred towards him. While he still could picture Angelus in his mind the image that they were the same man had been shattered when the caged vampire opened his mouth or looked into his eyes. The last time that he saw Angel was when they took on that well-dressed but powerful lawyer.

"In a hell dimension with the surviving members of his team" replied Doyle

"Ok and I would think that Faith will help me" said Connor and he wanted to save his father like how Angel had saved him with the memory wipe that had stopped him from going postal after he killed his fully-grown daughter Jasmine.

"Angel must be so proud that his son is involved with a Slayer like he was" said Doyle seeing Faith curled up next to him now snoring.

"Well Faith is hot" said Connor

"She is although she is not my type and do you know what the worst part of being a ghost is"

"What?" asked Connor

"You cannot taste good whiskey anymore and best of luck to you lad. Say hi to your father for me" said Doyle before disappearing.

In Sunnydale of an alternate dimension in a ruined church that was rotting with decay and smelled of death. An ancient vampire was seated on an ornately carved chair while a small boy stood next to him dropping stones into the pool of a blood. Around them there was the deceptively warm glow of a hundred candles. The Master was the lord of all the vampires and in his mortal life the Master had been exactly what he was in death: a monster. Darla approached, returning from hunting and she was cloaked in innocence a pretty face framed by blonde hair, wearing the clothes of a private girl's school. She practically skipped through the chamber looking gleeful about something.

"Did you contact your arrogant boyfriend" asked the Master

"I did Master" breathed Darla and the name of Angelus was on her lips, always much to her sire's disapproval and fury. She dreamed of the time when the Master would free himself from this underground prison and rule a world filled with demons, vampires and other monsters. She would be there with Angelus the perfect monster that she had created.

"She did contact me and I am now here" drawled a new voice and the Master frowned at seeing his arrogant grandson walk towards them with a swagger.

"Angelus! You made it" breathed Darla rushing over to kiss him.

"Heinrich" said Angelus addressing his grandsire after accepting Darla's kiss and then turning to face the ancient vampire.

"You will address me as milord Angelus or suffer my wrath" barked the Master and his red eyes gleamed with rage.

Angelus bowed mockingly before the ancient vampire before meeting his gaze with a hint of defiance.

"I see that mixing with the humans has not improved your sense of propriety" said the Master frowning. He regarded the younger vampire with the deepest loathing.

"You don't need manners when you are at the top of the food chain" replied Angelus with an arrogant grin.

"You are not at the top of the food chain here, vermin" growled the Master and then he noticed two vampires had now walked in. One a willowy brunette that looked to be in her own world and was humming to herself. While the bleach blonde man wearing a long black leather, duster looked rather bored by the argument.

"Why have you called us here Master" said Angelus

"There is an unfortunately a Slayer here" said the Master

"She must not prevent your plan to rise" commented Darla looking worried.

"I can take out this Slayer a lot faster than captain forehead can" said the bleach blonde man and Angelus regarded him with fury.

"Well then William I leave it to you to take out this Slayer if you can" said the Master

"I have done a few Slayers in my time and I do not like to brag. Who am I kidding? I love to brag there was this Slayer in the Boxer Rebellion. By the way my name is Spike and not William, you monstrous git" said Spike and he never liked the Master having met him once after he had killed his first Slayer in China.

"Ms. Edith says that we are going to a world where is more than one Slayer to spoil our fun and baby brother is there and must be punished Daddy and Grandmother" commented Drusilla suddenly. The other vampires dismissed her insane statement as there was one Slayer at a time until she dies and is replaced by another.

"I see that you cannot keep your subordinates in line Angelus" said the Master smiling nastily.

"No more than you can keep Darla in line because she always leaves you for me" said Angelus smirking.

"I am not Peaches's subordinate" interjected Spike he knew that the battle between Angelus and the Master was over Darla because the blonde vampire was the only thing that the Master had ever cherished in his black heart.

Then all of a sudden with a rushing of a wind the four vampires suddenly disappeared in a flash of light. The Master roared in outrage at the sight.

"Forget them and we don't need Darla" said the young boy soothingly

"How dare you! Darla was my favourite for 400 years and even Angelus was one of the vicious creatures that I had ever met despite his arrogance and unruliness" snarled the Master.

Please read and review and thanks to Starway Man for his patient advice on what works in fanfic.


	4. Chapter 4

Ties that Bind chapter 4

In a hell dimension that is run by the Senior Partners a naked vampire with bleach blonde man wakes up in a cage with reinforced bars. A blonde walks in and slides through the bars.

"Buffy have you come to rescue me luv?" asked the bleach blonde man smiling in hope.

"Really Spike and why would do that? Questioned the ghostly form of Buffy with a cruel look on her face

"Because of what we mean to each other pet and I died to save the world from the First" said Spike now feeling confused.

"Really and I am in love with the Immortal and not you" said Buffy with an evil grin.

"That wanker! I thought that you would come to your senses by now" roared Spike in anger

"Are you telling me that I was supposed to wait until you had finished playing super hero with Angel in that skanky law firm? Face it William you are beneath me and the Immortal is ten times the lover that you are and as for saying that I loved you when Sunnydale blew up that was only because you were going to die to save us and if it had been Xander or Giles wearing that amulet. I would have said the same things to them that I did to you" sneered Buffy

"You are not my Buffy! You are a heartless bint" barked Spike

"Maybe this is a nightmare or maybe this is me without having to listen to your whining, lame poetry or having to look into those love sick eyes of yours" said Buffy before disappearing

"No! Buffy come back" implored Spike as even though he knew that this was not probably not Buffy it was the first time that he had seen her since he had been resurrected.

Next to the cage holding Spike a brunette man was tormented by three spirits.

"I thought that you would not let our son down and what did you do instead? You let Holtz take him into hell and then you let your secretary get possessed and twist his mind until he went psycho. You are definitely not father of the year and I would rather have given our son to Lindsey if I knew that you are going to screw up this badly "sneered Darla smiling evilly.

"No" mumbled Angel weakly

"I thought that you are a good guy Angel but then you let Wolfram and Hart rape the minds of your friends who had trusted you including me. I would have been married to Wesley by now and had some kids but thanks to you, Knox and your psychotic son that will never happen" commented Fred with a nasty look that did not suit her normally sweet features.

"Fred I am so sorry but I was protecting my son" replied Angel with an expression of guilt

"Yes, but that your son of yours is actually my son. Steven did a good job in punishing you and making you pay for your crimes against my family. Remember that you had to kill your own son. This reminds me of the time when that bitch of yours turned my youngest daughter into a vampire after you had assaulted my wife. I was forced to kill my own daughter by throwing her out of the house during the day" said Holtz looking as fanatical as ever.

"It was Angelus who did those things to your family with Darla not me" said Angel but still felt the guilt over what Angelus had done to Holtz's family and so many others.

"You and that beast Angelus are the two sides of the same coin. Everyone sees it such as my son Steven, your ex-girlfriend and that Watcher of hers" replied Holtz coldly.

"Connor is not your son and you had to kidnap him from Wesley and you also hurt him in Quor Toth" croaked Angel.

Two visitors then approached the dimension

"How are the punishments going" said the brunette woman

"Going well and we started psychological tortures on those traitors but they are still holding strong. Those impostors have strict instructions to remind Angel of his greatest failure and for Spike an image of his Slayer that does not love him. Then we erase their memories of meeting the impostors and start again. We will move on to physical torture tomorrow" replied the burly well-dressed man with dark hair

"Good the Senior Partners intend to collect their pound of flesh from Angel for destroying years of work and taking out their instruments in this dimension" replied the brunette

"What is your interest in watching Angel get tortured Lilah" asked the burly man

"Well Marcus, Angel got Wesley killed in his harebrained scheme to kill off the Circle of the Black Thorn and that is not something that I can forgive" replied Lilah

Meanwhile in the mainstream dimension in the city of Angels which was a mess after the demons and vampires had been unleashed. Army trucks patrolled the streets and soldiers escorted the civilians into them to be evacuated to safety.

"Mr and Mrs. Reilly, you cannot stay here as L.A has suffered a huge earthquake and is now a disaster zone. We are moving all civilians to a safe zone near San Francisco until we can ascertain the level of the damage" said a tall man who was about 6 foot.

"What about my son Connor? He is studying at Stanford and will be worried if he cannot contact us" protested a brunette looking worried

"Since when does Los Angeles suffer earthquakes? I thought that was in San Francisco" replied the husband looking suspicious

"We are looking into that but my husband is right that you cannot stay here. Do not worry about your son if he is in Stanford, he should be safe and you can call him once things have calmed down a bit" said a shorter brunette who looked tough and competent

"Load these civilians onto the truck and tell them that they can only pack the essentials "said the leader of the army unit.

"What are you going to do Riley?" asked the brunette

"Graham and I are going to make a sweep of the city and see if Buffy and her team have arrived yet" replied Riley

"Please be careful because there has been rumours of a black man leading a team of vampires and they have drained some of our men" said Sam Finn trying to sound calm but worried over her husband.

"Don't worry I will take care of your husband Sam and Buffy and her team should be able to clean up this mess in no time" said Graham and both he and Riley remembered the short feisty blonde Slayer from their days in the Initiative. One of their success stories was putting a chip in Hostile 17's head which prevented him from biting humans. Riley thought it would be nice to see Xander, Willow and Giles again but he did not want to think about Spike or Buffy's first love who probably caused all this mess.

In the ruins of Wolfram and Hart about evening time Lindsey, Gunn and ghost Wesley watched as the Orb of Ramras disgorged four vampires and one looked like Angel but he had black leather pants and leather jacket. He also had a cruel look in his eye. The other looked like Spike from this dimension. The other two were women and one was a blonde in a Catholic school girl's outfit and the other was a willowy brunette who was wearing dresses that could have been a cross between a Victorian look and Kate Moss.

"Where the bloody hell are, we?" questioned the bleach blonde man looking confused but irritated

"For once you have asked an excellent question William" said the blonde woman in a Catholic school girl's outfit looking icily at him.

"You are in Los Angeles in 2004" said Wesley

"Bloody hell man! We were just in Sunnydale just a minute ago and the year was 1997" growled the bleach blonde man and he looked around suspiciously.

"This is very interesting I am sure but why are we here and why have we travelled forward in time? Now talk one of you before I demonstrate my torture techniques that got me renowned as the Scourge of Europe" snarled the dark-haired man and he tried to hit Wesley but the punch went through him.

"As I was about to say before you tried to hit me Angelus, all of you are here because the Senior Partners of Wolfram and Hart have brought you across to this dimension to help us defeat the Slayers" said Wesley looking rather annoyed that Angelus tried to hit him.

"Nasty Slayers trying to spoil our fun and Ms Edith says that the other Daddy has gone far away and William my knight is no longer my knight here" mumbled Drusilla

"Dru I will always love you and I cannot imagine not loving you for one minute" said Spike looking tenderly at her and shocked at the idea that he could leave his black goddess behind.

"Oh, that's just great and do we need to watch Spike comforting his so-called princess? or can we get on with business about Slayers and I thought that there could be only one Slayer" demanded the blonde

"Now Grandmother don't be cruel and we can chop the Slayers up before they hurt Daddy" whined Drusilla and Spike looked irritated and jealous about Drusilla being concerned for Angelus.

"There are more than one Slayer because the Slayer of this world and her team have activated the world's potentials and this is something that worries my masters" said Wesley

"Why should we care about more than one Slayer and I am really hungry so unless one of you wants to volunteer blood, I would figure out a way for us to go home before we kill you all" roared Angelus looking angrier than ever.

"I don't know Angelus maybe we can chase down these Slayers and I looking forward to adding more to my total but I am also hungry and maybe I will have a snack of out that bird there" said Spike looking at Eve as if she was lunch.

"Feel free to take a bite or several out of Eve as that bitch and her boyfriend caused us enough trouble" commented Gunn laughing. Lindsey looked furious but several of Gunn's men went forward to intimidate him.

"Only a fool gets involved in chasing Slayers and what is the point of courting that level of risk" replied Darla

"The point is if you are looking for a reason to exist as a vampire there is death, glory and sod all else right? Unless you are scared great grandma" retorted Spike

"Do shut up William and you can stay here and chase Slayers but Angelus and I want to make a deal with Wolfram and Hart that will allow us to go home and serve the Master" said Darla

"The Master is dead in this dimension and Buffy Summers killed him" commented Wesley

"Well that's the best news that I have heard since being in this dimension" commented Angelus smirking evilly. He remembered the Slayer in this dimension was called Betty or something like that. He did not know for sure what her name was although there were many stories. Some vampires said that she killed Lothos by burning down the school gym in Los Angeles. Although he hardly cared about that posing wannabe of a vampire he thought.

"She is a dead woman and I am going to kill her" snarled Darla looking furious and she had tried to slap Angelus but he had grabbed her wrist before letting go.

"Oh you were singing a different tune just a minute ago" said Spike sarcastically

"Also, Buffy of this dimension sent the Angelus to hell and he has a soul. Both he and Darla have a son called Connor" said Wesley

"Bloody hell are we living in a soap opera? First of all, it is unnatural for vampires to have souls and secondly vampires are dead and cannot have kids the normal way" said Spike looking taken aback.

"Me with a soul that's just ridiculous and it is even more ridiculous that Darla and I are parents to a human brat" roared Angelus in anger.

"Well you do here and the brat is a walking disaster" commented the black man

"Yes, Charles and we all know that Connor has a lot of issues since he was raised by Holtz which led to Angel altering reality" said Wesley

"Excuse me Holtz has been dead for a few hundred years" said Darla looking taken aback remembering the crazy English vampire hunter who has chased Angelus and her throughout Europe and North Africa before Angelus had snapped his neck in Rome in revenge for being tortured. She led a team of minions to rescue her darling boy.

"Well moving on we can make some kind of arrangement will you help us to kill the Slayers who are coming here? In return we can send you home if you still want to go home" said Wesley

"Why do need them as Spike or Angelus might kiss them to death or something" said Gunn nastily.

"Now look you Nancy Boy vampires and Slayers do not form relationships and I have killed two Slayers. One in China and one in New York. How many of those bitches have you killed mate? Growled Spike angrily. The very idea of him and a Slayer getting it on made him feel ill and why did he need to shag a Slayer? When he has Drusilla and she was all he needed since she turned him back in the day. This made him feel more alive than when he was a simpering poet.

"I have never slept with a Slayer in my unlife and maybe my counterpart has gone crazy from having a soul to do that" commented Angelus angrily.

"We have a deal" said Darla and she was determined to avenge her sire who had died in this dimension.

"Oh, fine and besides it might be fun not to be answering to the Master and besides I want to meet the woman who sent me to hell in this dimension before I rip out her throat" rumbled Angelus

"I am looking forward to a scoring a few more Slayers on my tally" said Spike looking gleeful.

"Yes, Spike chop those wicked Slayers into messes before they poison you with sunshine again" said Drusilla with an insane grin on her face.

At the Hyperion people had started to arrive and to their surprise despite the level of devestation that the city was in. The Hyperion was still standing apart from a few smashed windows.

"Hi Buffy it is good to see you again" said the redhead to her best friend

"Hello Willow so far I had to stake a few vampires who had tried to attack me and behead one demon" said Buffy sighing and the two friends hugged.

"Can we have a group hug or is this between you and Will" said Xander before embracing his childhood friend and then his high school friend.

"Oh, it is good to see you" said Willow after hugging Xander

"Buffy" said Kennedy curtly

"Kennedy are you still with Will" asked Buffy

"Yes I am and we love each other" replied Kennedy

"Where is Faith?" asked the redhead looking around

"Probably getting bouncy with her new boyfriend" said Buffy

"What about Principal Wood" asked Xander remembering the black man who had helped with the First and had a relationship with Faith.

"They broke up when Faith went to Stanford because Giles got reports of a Slayer operating at Stanford" said Willow wisely

"I am here B with my new boyfriend and I would have thought that someone would have pulled that stake out of your ass by now" said Faith and Buffy noted she had radiated power and confidence. A skinny but wiry man stood next to her looking at Faith as if he was infatuated with her. Poor guy he was not in Faith's league thought Buffy and she wondered if this is the guy who Whistler was referring to.

"Faith" said Buffy with an annoyed expression

"Who is the guy Will" asked Xander pointing at the younger man

"If that guy is who I think it is then things have got weirder than usual" said Willow and then Giles suddenly joined them.

"Why are you here?" asked Buffy looking cross that Giles was not looking after her sister.

"I left Dawn in Andrew's care and everything should be fine Buffy" said Giles

"Right you left my sister in London being baby sat by that nerd and you are telling me that everything is going to be fine" replied Buffy with a hint of hostility. She had not forgiven Giles for not telling her that Spike was back.

"If you are angry with me for not telling you that Spike had been back" said Giles

"Yes, I am! I am sick of people deciding what is best for me or not best for me. I am a grown woman not a child" growled Buffy at her former mentor.

"Spike is back?" questioned a confused looking Willow and Faith looked shocked as well.

"Maybe Giles had his reasons Buffy and why don't you calm down and listen" said Xander

"Yes, thank you Xander and until recently my intel was suggesting that Spike had lost his soul because he was involved with Wolfram and Hart." Giles then saw the younger man with Faith and took a step back in shock.

"Good lord I think that I saw you die" said Giles in a state of shock

"Well I never met you in my life so I don't know how to react to that" said the young man with light brown hair and blue eyes.

"I mean that I got a DVD sent to me anonymously of you and Angel fighting and then Angel cutting you across the throat along with a note saying look what Angelus has done recently" explained Giles.

Buffy regarded the younger man with Faith in some suspicion while Kennedy looked bored and was holding Willow's hand.

"Oh, that and Angel did kill me but then Wolfram and Hart rebuilt me and changed people's memories and did you not see bombs strapped to my waist or hostages? He did what was necessary to save me and those people" replied the younger man looking defensive about his father.

"There were no bombs or hostages in the video that I was sent" said Giles feeling the need to sit down.

"How are you doing Connor" said Willow smiling now getting a closer look at him.

"Fine thanks Willow and thanks for restoring my father's soul" said Connor

"Willow do you know this guy" asked Xander in a state of shock and this had been the day for revelations and he was worried about Giles who had gone very pale in the face. I guess the fact that he had received a video which was clearly not the whole story that had based his beliefs on Angel being evil by taking over the law firm had clearly affected him. Although it did not excuse Angel for creating a gigantic mess in Los Angeles and letting supernatural monsters run around, he thought.

"It was my pleasure although I was a bit concerned that I had made a mistake during the restoration and that soul had suddenly disappeared when your dad took over Wolfram and Hart" remarked Willow

"Willow you know Angel had a son and you did not tell me" barked Buffy

"Don't yell at her" growled Kennedy looking protective over the redhead.

"Well shall we argue in the street or go inside the hotel" said Connor holding hands with Faith.

"You better have a damn good explanation" growled Buffy following everyone in. They were sitting on the chairs that were very dusty. Buffy resisted the urge to clean her pants of the dust that nearly made her choke.

"Stud is Angel's son and I remember meeting him in Los Angeles and he is the Slayer in Stanford that you sent me to get Giles" commented Faith

"Is he even human" asked Buffy looking at him closely.

"Yes, I am human with vampire strength" said Connor

"Fascinating and I would never have thought that I would have lived to see the day of meeting something or someone that all my books cannot explain such as a vampire like Angel having a human son" said Giles now calming down a little.

"Well I was a surprise to everyone" said Connor

"Where is everyone on Angel's team" asked Willow changing the subject.

"Whistler said that most of them are dead including Wesley" said Buffy

"Well who needs someone who screams like a girl and is a total wimp" commented Xander

"Xander!" scolded Willow nudging him with her elbow

"Ouch and calm down Will" said Xander

'Hello everyone and rumours of my death were true but I am now back" said a new voice belonging to a tall brunette who regarded Xander with a soft expression.

"Is that Cordelia" asked Xander smiling in hope.

"She is dead and it must be the First coming back" said Buffy

"First of all, Buffy if I was the First and I could not do this and secondly you guys defeated the First Evil for good" said Cordelia picking up a cushion and setting it down.

"Maybe it is Jasmine's spirit in a Cordy suit" said Connor regarding the brunette suspiciously.

"Who is Jasmine" asked Xander

"Connor Reilly do not be stupid you defeated Jasmine and she is gone for good" snapped Cordelia feeling some anger and guilt. Anger at Jasmine for possessing her to steal Angel's soul and sleeping with his son and also guilt as she, Holtz and Jasmine had helped to destroy Connor to the point that Angel made that deal with Wolfram and Hart.

"Cordelia is that really you? asked Willow

"Well it is not Nicole Kidman here Will" replied Cordelia smiling warmly and it was a typical Cordelia smile.

"It is you!" breathed Xander

"Yes, the cheerleader is back and where is Angel" asked Faith

"Angel is in a hell dimension and I can help you to locate which one he is in" said Cordelia

"We must go save him and Spike" said Buffy

"I thought that you were over your vampire fetish" commented Kennedy

"Our duty is to the people of Los Angeles and not to a pair of vampires who have killed more people than Ted Bundy or Jack the Ripper" said Xander and Connor looked annoyed at him.

"Well the Powers want Angel and Spike back as they are needed for what is to come" said Cordelia

"Like what" asked Giles

"Well the Senior Partners have brought across a version of Angel that was never cursed along with his Manson family" said Cordelia

"Good lord" whispered Giles remembering Angelus torturing her trying to get the information about how to wake up Acathla and the idea that Angelus was back along with Darla, Drusilla and William the Bloody was not good news for him or his surrogate daughter and their friends.

Please read and review and thanks to Starway Man for his advice and comments.


	5. Chapter 5

Ties that bind chapter 5

"Hey Cordy it's been a while" said a voice and Cordelia looked up stirred from her thoughts and she remembered everything which included Jasmine stealing her body and the Beast on the rampage in L.A. She looked up to see her ex-boyfriend Xander Harris although he had an eye patch.

"Xander! What happened to your eye?" asked Cordelia looking shocked and she was ashamed that she did notice the changes in her ex but she was busy passing on the instructions from the Powers that Be to the Slayers.

"That was when an evil preacher gouged out my eye when we were fighting the First Evil. But hey don't feel sad as I think that I look like Nick Fury you know from the Marvel comics said Xander smiling at her. Despite his relationship with Anya there was only one Cordelia Chase.

"Still the geek I see" replied Cordelia smiling affectionately at him.

"That's right and I have you know I am not as geeky as some people. So, what you have been up to and more to the point how are you here? When Willow heard from someone called Fred that you were in a coma. I would have been there to visit you but I was busy grieving for Anya" said Xander.

"The Powers sent me back for last one mission which is to rescue Angel and Spike and to defeat the evil of Wolfram and Hart. After that I am free of their control" said Cordelia

"But it's dangerous and Wolfram and Hart sounds really bad according to Giles so why were you sent back by the Powers" asked Xander looking worried about his first love.

"They owe me more than one favour after the whole Jasmine debacle" said Cordelia sharply. She hated the rogue power for stealing her body and for having its minions breaking her and Xander apart by using a love spell on him and Willow. She regretted that Lilah was dead because she meant a lot to Wesley although she wished that he would have picked a less evil woman for his girlfriend. She learned how Jasmine was playing them in L.A and all the way back in Sunnydale when she was with the Powers that Be until she was summoned to help Angel. She remembered the broody vampire and they should have stayed friends and it was good that she was able to help him get on the right path and defeat Lindsey.

"Who is Jasmine when she is at home? I remember that Dead Boy's kid mentioned her and is anyone shocked that Angel has a son" said Xander looking curious.

"Jasmine is a rogue Power who wanted to impose world peace by force and stole my body to sleep with Connor and not to mention she slaughtered all those people by unleashing the Beast onto L.A and then brought out Angelus" explained Cordelia while trying not to cry remembering the horror of those memories.

"Hey, hey that was not you and you would not have done any of those things and it seems that Connor dude has gotten over the experience" comforted Xander wrapping an arm around her shoulders and it felt nice she thought.

"Yes, and thanks to the memory wipe that Wolfram and Hart arranged and not to mention Faith. The idea of Connor being with the formerly rogue Slayer who had elbowed me into unconsciousness still wigs me out although it is not as bad as him have feelings for me" said Cordelia remembering how Connor stood closely to Faith when she had arrived at the Hyperion.

"Well none of those knew why Angel had joined with that evil law firm and my parents would not have not sold their souls to protect me. I hope that Connor knows that he is lucky to have a dad who does" said Xander remembering his drunken and abusive parents with a shudder.

"Why are you interested as you hate Angel" asked Cordelia frowning at him.

"I do but I know what it is like to a messed-up family that is impossible to love" replied Xander seriously.

"Well you have grown up since Sunnydale" said Cordelia impressed

"Yes, we all have to grow up sometime Cordy and if you need someone to talk or to hang out. I will be there for you" said Xander

"Hi guys" said a new voice belonging to Willow standing in the doorway

"What is it Will" asked Xander

"It's time to get Angel and Spike back" said Willow

"Oh, this is just great" commented Xander sarcastically and he did not like the bleach blond vampire for what he did to Buffy in a certain bathroom and for trying to kill all of them when he had no soul. As for Angel at least the dark vampire had the sense to walk away before Angelus made any more guest appearances. He always wondered what was about vampires and beings such as 'the Immortal' that attracted his best friend. Although Riley was human but Buffy never really got close to him, he thought.

Meanwhile Gunn was discussing with his men the rumours that a Slayer was in town. While Wesley hovered in the background

"I swear to you man that crazy blonde staked three of us and I saw it with my eyes" said one nervous vampire with red hair.

"Were you chicken to fight a Slayer?" asked Gunn sneering and the other vampire bristled with anger.

"Hey man I came here to report to you that a Slayer could be in town as the blonde bitch knew what she was doing" said the red-haired vampire

"Well you have and thanks for that" said Gunn and he slapped the other vampire across the face.

"Ouch man and that hurt" said the red-haired vampire

"Maybe you should have stayed and fought the Slayer rather than abandoning your crew Pat" said Gunn with a snarl. He then pulled out a stake and dusted Pat with a thrust to his heart.

"Blonde Slayer and it is most definitely Buffy Summers who took out those vampires and this means that her friends cannot be far behind" said Wesley suddenly

"Oh, you mean Angel and Spike's former love" said Gunn now smiling and from the arguments that he had heard when he was a human. Buffy meant a lot to both Angel and Spike and he can start his revenge on them both by destroying the petite blonde he thought.

"That's right Charles and I am going to inform our guests of this new development" said Wesley before disappearing.

"Yeah, you do that Wes and I am going to add a Slayer to my total instead of watching the evil counterparts of Angel and Spike beat me to the prize" whispered Gunn to himself and he smiled at his gang who smirked maliciously.

"Are we going for the Slayers bro" asked a fellow black vampire and Gunn had turned him personally as the other man had been an important member of his part of his former crew before he had joined up with Angel and was the last link to those days.

"We are Rondell and if Angelus or Spike from the other dimension get there first then you know what to do" ordered Gunn

"Dust their asses" said Rondell and he had been protecting his hood until his former friend Gunn had arrived with at least ten men and before he knew it. The vampires had attacked and many of the crew were dead and Rondell was dragged before his ex-friend who was now a vampire much to his shock and horror. He was now a vampire and served as Gunn's right-hand man.

"That's right Rondell and don't forget that both Darla and Drusilla are very dangerous so be careful" requested Gunn and he remembered both female vampires very well and the alternate ones were probably the same.

"What about Wolfram and Hart you know that killing Angelus and Spike is not in their plan" asked a skinny vampire looking nervously around.

"Well what they don't know won't hurt them" said Gunn

At the Hyperion Hotel the Scooby gang had gone over a plan with Cordelia's help. Buffy, Cordelia, Connor and Faith were going to the hell dimension to rescue Angel and Spike. Originally Buffy had not wanted Connor being a part of the rescue mission because she never knew him and was still finding his story about Angel's son a little hard to believe or take. But Cordelia reassured her that Connor was telling the truth and provided a coherent detail about Holtz and Jasmine that she could remember. Besides who was she to stand in the way of someone rescuing their father when she would have done the same for Giles. She thought and then hugged Xander and Willow and finally nodded to Giles realizing that he had done what he had done to protect her not to hurt her. Willow then opened the portal with Cordelia's help and they stepped through it.

"Good luck" yelled Willow and they had a look around and the ground was sand but coloured red and there was one castle in the distance.

"That's where Angel and Spike are" said Cordelia pointing to the castle

"You should not have come here! This world belongs to the Senior Partners" said a demon with yellow skin.

"We are here to pick up our friends" said Cordelia and she punched the demon in the face. Buffy looked amazed because the girl that she remembered in Sunnydale was not into fighting or martial arts.

"That hurt human but not as much as this will" said the yellow demon before trying to punch her but Connor intercepted his punch and then hit him.

"Listen Mr. Yellow I am a Slayer and the brunette there is a Slayer. Your bosses should know that Slayers are dangerous" remarked Buffy and she pointed to Faith.

"That's right B and my man there was the baddest thing in Quor Toth so bring us to Angel and Spike or we will kill you" said Faith and the yellow demon whistled and more demons had arrived.

"They are trying to liberate the prisoners stop them" yelled the demon to his fellows. The battle was on and Buffy used powerful blows sending a few demons flying back while Faith took on a few with high kicks making them squeal in pain. Connor used his vampire strength and speed against the others. To Buffy's practised eye the young man moved like his father although less experienced. She also noted that she saw him pull out a move that he had learned from Faith but she tried not to think about Faith being with Angel's son in that way. Finally, the demons had dispersed and they continued on their trek through the red sand.

Back in mainstream Los Angeles Giles, Xander, Willow and Kennedy waited nervously around. Finally, there was a knock at the door and Giles looked for a weapon

"Hi guys it's me Riley" said a voice and Xander breathed in relief

"Welcome to the party soldier man" said Xander before hugging Riley in relief. He was relieved to see a friendly face.

"Where's Buffy" asked Riley

"She went into another dimension to save Angel and Spike" said Giles

"Seriously why does that woman always try to save those two?" asked Riley in bewilderment. He could not understand Buffy's fascination with vampires such as Angel, Spike or even Dracula and it led him to a shameful episode in his life when he went to get bitten by other vampires.

"I frequently ask myself the same question" agreed Xander

"At least Faith is not here because badness would ensue" commented Willow remembering the body swap and the damage that Faith did when she was evil.

"Is Faith good or still bad?" asked Riley suspiciously

"She is good and she has been a great help in training the new Slayers and helped to defeat the source of evil" said Giles reassuringly

"Yes, and she has a new boyfriend" said Xander

"Poor guy" mumbled Riley making a face.

"Well do you want to wait for Buffy?" asked Willow and she was pleased to see the former soldier although another part of her was angry that Riley left Buffy and not to mention was having his blood sucked by vampires when he was Buffy's boyfriend.

"Well I better go and join Sam and it is nice to see you all" said Riley before leaving

"Was that Buffy's only human boyfriend or was he another vampire with a soul" snarked Kennedy

"Riley is definitely human sweetie and he is married to a nice lady" said Willow.

In another location ghost Wesley was briefing the alternate Whirlwind

"Its about bloody time that the Slayers have turned up and I can't wait to kill them" said Spike gleefully.

"How many Slayers are there" asked Darla

"There could be two or possibly more and the blonde one is Buffy Summers and the other is brunette and her name is Faith" said Wesley

"Faith sounds like a typical name for a goody goody Slayer" said Angelus

"Faith is not the typical Slayer and you will see what I mean" replied Wesley

"Well the blonde chit sounds like Angelus's type with defeating the Master and all that" said Spike

"My Angelus knows not to leave me for a Slayer of all things' barked Darla and she then slapped Spike across the face.

"Ouch great grandma and I was only teasing" commented Spike

"Daddy kill that Slayer before she poisons my Spike" wailed Drusilla in a loud voice and Spike preened over Drusilla's concern for him.

"Just calm down Drusilla and we will deal with those Slayers" retorted Angelus

"What about Faith" asked Wesley

"Well Spike and Drusilla can deal with Faith while Angelus and I will deal with Buffy. Remember there is no turning of Slayers into vampires because we don't know what that would do" ordered Darla

"Hang on you ice queen why should you get to give us orders when I am the Big Bad who killed two Slayers" retorted Spike

"Don't push me William because I am older and stronger than you are" snarled Darla angrily.

Angelus watched the argument with amusement and he was curious about meeting the Buffy Summers of this dimension.

In the hell dimension the party of good guys had finally broken into the castle and were now searching around.

"Hey I think that I found one of them" said Connor seeing his father naked on the floor mumbling to himself

"Dad I am here to rescue you" said Connor shaking him.

"No, I have given up too much to the fight and I want to die here" mumbled Angel to himself

"You cannot die because I need you and we are getting out of here Dad" said Connor

"Someone must slap him because it might help" ordered Cordelia

"Big guy please don't hold this against me" mumbled Faith and she slapped Angel across the face. Finally, he stirred and looked up at them.

"No this is a trick and I am so sorry for what I have done. I really am" said Angel shaking his head

"What do you think they have done to him" asked Connor frowning in concern

"Nothing good and hit him again Faith and we are going to have drag him with us" said Cordelia and Faith finally punched him after a moment of indecision and finally Angel's eyes opened up and he saw them more clearly.

"Is that you Connor my son?" asked Angel hopefully

"Yes, Dad I am here to get out of this hell dimension" replied Connor

"Yes, Angel we are all here for you and can you walk?" asked Cordelia and Angel began to walk unsteadily.

Meanwhile Buffy had found Spike and she used her Slayer powered kick at the bars and finally they began to bend. Spike saw the bars bending and looked to see a blonde

"No, my Buffy can't be here because she is in Rome with that wanker the Immortal and does not love me" mumbled Spike in disbelief

"What have they done to you Spike? I am here for you and Angel. I am sorry that I was not there for you earlier but I am here now" said Buffy and she was shocked at the state Spike was in.

Spike with a roar finally wrenched open the bars that had been loosened by Buffy's kick.

"What about the brooding one" asked Spike

"Connor, Faith and Cordelia are going in to get him" said Buffy

"Excuse me Cordelia is dead and I heard that from Angel himself" barked Spike

"She is here now just as you got back and I am not happy that you did not contact me by the way" retorted Buffy

"Slayer you know I wanted to but I thought that it would be better for you if you thought I was dead so that you could move on with your life" croaked Spike

"We can talk about this later and you are not pulling an Angel on me" barked Buffy and her face was flushed red in anger.

"What does Peaches have to do with this" asked a confused Spike

Finally, they met the others and they ran from the castles pushing demons aside and then Cordelia opened the portal and they were back in Los Angeles.

"Thank God you guys are back and it has been few days since you went in through the portal" said Giles.

"Oh, just like that time when I got back from Quor Toth then" said Connor

"I hope not because you tried to kill Angel then" said Cordelia sternly

"I am over that Cordelia really I am" said Connor

"That's five by five" said Faith and the young couple ran to their room.

"What do you think that they are going to do in there" asked Willow

"Believe me Will you don't want to know" replied Buffy

"Oh, it's that hungry and horny thing that Faith talked about when she had first met us at the Bronze" said Xander now shuddering and he remembered Faith using him to satisfy those urges back in the day.

"What did happen to Robin" asked Giles changing the subject after cleaning his glasses rigorously.

"I think that a high school in Cleveland had a look at his references and appointed him as their principal" said Xander and everyone looked at him.

"What I did talk to the guy a few times and he hates Spike so that's a win" said Xander cheerfully

"Well as long as they don't ask what happened to the high school in Sunnydale, he should be fine" said Willow

They had settled both Angel and Spike into adjoining room and allowed the two vampires to sleep.

Please read and review and thanks to Starway Man for his reviews and comments.


	6. Chapter 6

Ties that Bind chapter 6

AN: I only own the plot but some of the lines are in this chapter are owned by Joss Whedon because they are from the episode Magic Bullet. I don't own the characaters.

At the resort of Cabo, a blonde woman swims in a hotel pool. She then gets out in her blue swimsuit and walks to join her sister and niece who were sitting at a table drinking water. The temperature was nearly 40 degrees and most people were either inside or were taking advantage of the hotel pool.

"Aunt Nina I coloured this picture for you" squeals her niece

"That's nice pumpkin" replied Nina and her pretty face looked a little worried. The news from L.A was still bad. There had been reports of an earthquake and Nina had scanned the newspapers feverishly looking for any sign of her boyfriend the vampire with a soul who had helped her through her transformation. But the only news that she got was that Wolfram and Hart had collapsed and according to reporters everyone working there was feared dead. She had wanted to howl in outrage but restrained herself. She remembered Angel's words not to let the monster win.

"Still thinking about your boyfriend sis" asked Jill

"Yes, and I am worried about him" replied Nina looking serious and maybe Angel really was dead she thought and tried to shake her head to rid herself of those thoughts.

"I thought it was strange that he would only come and visit at night. You did not fall for a married man, did you?" asked Jill frowning in concern for her younger sister. Nina suppressed a giggle and Angel was many things a good man and a champion but he certainly was not a married man. She wondered what would have happened if she told her older sister the truth that Angel was a vampire and she was a werewolf.

"Angel is most definitely not a married man and he was busy being CEO of the law firm" replied Nina

"Yes, but that law firm had collapsed according to CNN and I just making sure that he is not a jerk taking advantage of my sister" replied Jill seriously.

"Look Jill I love you for your concern but you don't need to protect me from Angel. I hope that he gets in touch with me just so I know that he is alive or seriously hurt" replied Nina smiling at her sister.

"Aunt Nina can you get some an ice cream" interrupted Amanda a young blonde girl.

"Amanda! You were supposed to ask me for permission" scolded Jill.

Meanwhile at a deserted location in Los Angeles where there was only a warehouse two people and a robed demon were standing around.

"It's a simple thing that we want done to bring someone forward in time" said the brunette

"It will cost you" growled the demon

"You will get half now and half on result" said the man with blue eyes and long dark hair. It was strange that a demon would accept human cash although he remembered that from his Wolfram and Hart days that many demons and vampires liked human money to spend. While others refused to taint themselves with such things.

"Your terms are acceptable and I will make the necessary preparations" growled the demon with red skin that was just covered by his robe.

"I hope that this works and I do not want the Senior Partners consigning me to one of their worst hell dimensions" said the brunette in the red dress.

"Don't worry darlin and we can explain to Wesley this was the failsafe that we need just in case Angelus or Gunn got out of control and tried to kill us" replied Lindsey

"I remember that the Senior Partners had a failsafe just in case Angel went rogue" commented Eve

"Pity that they did not activate it when he started killing off the Circle of the Black Thorn it would have saved us all some bother" said Lindsey

"Well I don't pretend to understand them or why they do what they do" said Eve

"Do you think that this assassin that we are going to summon forward in time will do his job" asked Lindsey

"Yes, despite being difficult to control he hates Angel with a passion and is the only person that was able to throw him into the ocean and leave him there for an entire summer" said Eve

"I got to meet this guy and thank him as this has just made my day" chortled Lindsey and he was delighted at the visions of Angel being trapped under the ocean going mad with hunger that had presented itself in his mind.

The demon came back and looked at them.

"Are you ready?" asked Lindsey

"Yes, and you might to stand back" replied the demon and began chanting in a demonic tongue.

In May 2003 there was a sunny day but at the Hyperion Hotel the team was reeling from the news that Fred had rejected the love of Jasmine the goddess who had enthralled the entire city including them and had run off into parts unknown.

"This close and she pulls a Houdini" said Gunn looking frustrated

"What's a Houdini" asked Connor looking confused.

"She escaped" explained Wesley

"Fred obviously learned a trick or two at Angel Inc. But we'll catch her" growled Angel

"I'll find her and bring back her scalp" promised Connor looking dangerous.

"No Jasmine wants Fred alive" replied Wesley

"Wes is right. Fred gets to live until we understand why she rejected Jasmine's love" agreed Angel

"Why would anyone reject love?" asked Connor looking shocked

"Maybe because she has a history of doing that" replied Gunn looking annoyed and he remembered their relationship which had ended because of Seidel's murder and her growing feelings for Wesley. Maybe Jasmine behind their break up and knew they were clearly not well suited to be together he thought.

Then all of a sudden Connor magically disappears into thin air.

"Hey where did my son go?" questioned Angel looking angry and a little frightened.

"Maybe Jasmine can tell us" reassured Wesley

"Yes, and she will be able to get him back in no time at all" said Angel now feeling a little better.

"Well I am feeling rather glad that tyke is not here to cause any trouble" said Lorne now joining them.

In the same Hyperion Hotel at the end of 2004 about 6pm the place was now a hub of activity.

"It is good to see both Angel and Spike looking hale and hearty" said Giles trying to extend an olive branch as they needed the souled vampires against their soulless counterparts and whatever Wolfram and Hart was going to throw at them next.

"Not to look a gift horse in the mouth and all that but I thought that we were on our own" said Angel looking a little confused at seeing the people from Sunnydale who had wanted nothing to do with him or his team in his old place and they had rescued him and Spike from that hell dimension.

"Yes, Rupert explain about why didn't you help with Fred?" put in Spike looking angry.

"Fred is dead" whispered Willow looking sad and Kennedy put a hand on hers to comfort her.

"Not dead Red but taken over by Illyria and I think that she wandered off when we were imprisoned by those wankers in a hell dimension" replied Spike

"Well I am sorry about what happened. I really am but I thought you were Angelus and that Spike had lost his soul and that the phone call was to lure Willow into something nefarious" replied Giles looking saddened

"Why did you think that I was Angelus? Besides how could five people go bad at the same time" replied Angel looking quizzical.

"I received a DVD of you killing Connor and it was that DVD that convinced me that you had gone over and that Spike had joined you. I wanted to protect Buffy and Willow if that was the case" replied Giles

"I still say that you should have told me and the gang that someone has been sending you DVDS of Angel killing people" put in Buffy looking annoyed. If they had learned the lesson about Spike and Adam trying to divide them by not communicating with each other. Maybe Spike and Angel would not have been locked up in a hell dimension. She felt bad for Angel that he had lost of his team including that Fred woman that Willow spoke of very highly. Losing people was part of their lives because her team had lost Tara and Anya who had been close friends or someone special to both Xander and Willow.

"Oh, that recording and you do realize that someone altered it" growled Angel trying to not remember one of the worst times in life when his own son wanted to commit suicide

"Yes, I realize now very clearly that someone had deceived me by sending an altered DVD and I wonder who it was" said Giles

"Who the bloody hell is Connor" questioned Spike

"Maybe it was Eve who sent it after altering it" said Angel to himself.

"Connor is Angel's son Spike" said Willow

"Are you having a laugh Red? Angel is dead like me and we can't have children in that way" replied Spike

"Where is he?" asked Angel looking around for his son

"He's with Faith and they seem to be together" replied Buffy

"Yes, he has a liking for Slayers much like his dad or whatever Spike is to him. Although I would say that Faith is bit more seasoned than Buffy was when you and her were dating" put in Xander but winced when Willow nudged him. Spike looked annoyed by Xander's comment.

"I have not missed you one-bit whelp" replied Spike catching sight of the one-eyed man.

"Neither have I captain Peroxide but unfortunately we need you and Bossy the Cow over there. Wolfram and Hart has brought across your evil counterparts from another dimension along with your crazy exes" replied Xander

"Yes, and also Gunn is now turned" said Cordelia now joining them after she had left the group so that they could talk about the events of the past year. She was sad about the fate of one of her closest friends now dead and a demon was running around looking and talking like him.

"Bloody hell! Charlie boy is going to be a right terror as a vampire because he was a talented fighter already" replied Spike looking nervous about a vampire version of someone had called a friend.

"Oh god no" mumbled Angel looking as if he was about to collapse and Spike was right about the threat that Gunn could pose now. It would not surprise him if the vampire version of Gunn had a team of minions already. Willow gave him a look of concern and sadness before he steadied himself.

"Who is this Gunn guy anyway?" asked Buffy

"A friend of ours and he ran his own crew before joining with Angel" explained Cordelia

Meanwhile Gunn and his men marched to the Hyperion Hotel and Harmony was holding his hand.

"Remember Buffy is mine guys and you can share Faith amongst themselves. Kill the others" growled Gunn and he was well prepared for the confrontation. Rondell produced a Molotov cocktail and smiled at his leader.

"Let's knock on the door" said Gunn and he nodded to Rondell who threw the Molotov cocktail through the door and into the lobby and it exploded sending people fleeing for cover.

"They are here" said Cordelia

"No really? I thought that someone threw in a Molotov cocktail for a laugh" snarled Buffy and they quickly came out to face the vampires.

"Angel it is nice to see an old friend and I guess that you escaped from the Senior Partners. Nice of you and Spike to come home to die" snarled Gunn

"You are not Gunn" said Angel

"Maybe I am not the Gunn that you remember old man. I see that your ex has joined you or was that Spike's ex?" taunted Gunn

"Yeah Angel how does it feel to know that my chocolate bear is going to wipe you out" said Harmony with a grin.

"Harm! You and Gunn are together this is just disappointing" replied Spike catching sight of his ex-standing with the other vampires

"I would say that it is nice to see you Spike but we both know that would be a lie and Gunn treats me better than you ever did" snarled Harmony

"Well B my man and I are here and who are the fang faces" asked Faith now joining them and she heard the explosion and she had helped Connor to climb out of the window of their room. They had been listening to rock music together.

"Is that Gunn and no one told me he was a vampire" said Connor catching sight of one of his father's friends.

"Connor good to see you brat and a little birdie tells me that you are involved with Faith. Isn't that just typical of you always falling for an older woman" barked Gunn smiling sadistically.

"Well it seems that you went through a few changes of your own" replied Connor calmly

"Yes, and thanks to your dad. I wonder if Faith controls you through hormones much like how Cordy did taunted Gunn

"That was not Cordelia who did that but Jasmine and I am no longer that guy" snarled Connor

"Are you seriously telling me that you are fighting for redemption and you are no more going to get it than your dad or Spike or are you trying to impress Faith?" replied Gunn

The battle was on and Angel was busy defeating several vampires with punches and kicks and he and Connor fought back to back together much like the time at that club after he had just returned from Quor Toth. While Spike and Buffy was fighting a huge vampire.

"Thanks, pet, for coming to rescue me" said Spike and he evaded the punch from the other vampire before launching a solid uppercut knocking the monster back. While Cordelia and Xander were fighting vampires together and had staked a few. Faith was busy holding her own and was keeping an eye on both Connor and Angel because they were both important to her in different ways.

"Hey! The Slayers are ours and not yours" said new voices and Angelus, Spike along with Darla and Drusilla came into the alley.

"You three deal with the interlopers while the rest of you kill Angel and his friends" growled Gunn and the two battles were becoming ferocious in the alley. Angelus dodged the first punch from a lesser vampire and quickly tried to gouge out his eyes by using thumbs. Darla had shooting at several vamps and some were hit and were groaning in pain.

"Harmony shoot Darla with a gun" ordered Gunn and Harmony fired once but Darla ducked into a side alley.

"That won't kill her moron" replied Angelus with a smirk and he successfully had staked his opponent and had gouged out the eyes of another.

"No but it would have disabled her" replied Gunn and Darla returned shooting with two pistols and several vamps had been hit including Harmony who whined in pain.

"We can't stay here while gun shots are flying around" commented Buffy and she was worried about a stray bullet hitting her or one of her friends. She remembered Darla back in the day firing guns at her and that was bad enough.

"I agree and someone would have called the police if L.A had not been taken over by demon army" said Cordelia

"When did Harm fire guns" said Spike now joining them.

Drusilla was busy attacking several of Gunn's men and seemed to be laughing in glee while the alternate Spike was backing her up by dealing powerful blows.

"Is that me or is it weird seeing double of Spike and Angel" said Willow

"One of each is bad enough Will and two is getting out of hand" snarked Xander

"Come on guys come to old Spike one at a time or come one at a time it does not make a bloody difference" yelled the alternate Spike to Gunn's minions.

"That sounds familiar and where did bloody Wolfram and Hart find this doppelganger of me" said souled Spike looking a little disturbed at seeing Drusilla and his alternate self together as brought back too many bad memories.

"He is you if you never had come to Sunnydale or met Buffy" said Cordelia

"The main thing that he is not the Spike that you are now" reassured Buffy

The good guys quickly retreated with Faith checking over Connor who had been injured in the arm by a knife.

Please read and review and thanks to Starway Man for his kind comments.


	7. Chapter 7

Ties that Bind chapter 7

"Why didn't you tell me that you were back Spike? I mourned for you when Sunnydale was destroyed" barked Buffy looking very angry and she was in the room of the hotel that the good guys had commandeered after the Hyperion had been compromised in the wake of the fight outside between Vamp Gunn and them. But the local vampires had been distracted by Angelus and his gang from an alternate dimension and this had allowed them to escape.

"Are we going to do have this out now Slayer? We have more pressing matters such as Charlie boy being a vampire and Los Angeles being in such a state. Besides how long did you mourn me before you were shacking up with that bastard known as the Immortal?" retorted Spike and his pale face and was flushed red in anger.

"What does Marco have to do with this and how do you know him" replied Buffy suspiciously

"He tried to kill Angelus and I in Rome both in 1894 after he had shagged Darla and Drusilla. Then during this year, he tried to kill Angel and I when we were trying to prevent a demonic gang war by retrieving the Capo's head" growled Spike and the idea of another love of his life being with that bastard disgusted him. At least Peaches she could understand because the older vampire had been Buffy's first love just as Drusilla had been for him what did the Immortal have to attract Buffy? He thought angrily.

"That was not my fault that he tried to kill you in 1894 besides he never mentioned you or Angel to me when we were dating" retorted Buffy and she remembered that Spike was the most infuriating vampire that she had ever met although he had a way of confronting her with the truth.

"Yes, I know that it was not your fault that he tried to kill us in 1894 but the second time was besting us over you" replied Spike

"You once said that you loved me in the crater but you came back and did not tell me" said Buffy

"I was a ghost which meant that I was incorporeal pet and I could hardly ask the magnificent poof to dial the phone to call you" reasoned Spike

"What about when you had become a real boy Pinocchio so why didn't you pick up the phone" asked Buffy seriously

"I had time to think while I was haunting Wolfram and Hart and not annoying Peaches. You and I had a seriously dysfunctional relationship and so how could I have offered you a forever when we had hurt each so much luv" replied Spike very seriously. He was sitting on the bed facing Buffy the woman who had held his heart in her hands.

"You and Angel are the same always trying to give me what you guys think I want rather than asking me about what I want. I forgave you a long time ago Spike" said Buffy also matching his serious expression.

"I am not Angel but I just want to be what you need. Right now, Spike the love sick moron is not what you or anyone needs" replied Spike

"So were you with anyone else while you were working with Angel" asked Buffy dreading the answer although she had no right to ask him this question but she had to know.

"Yes, and it was Harm" mumbled Spike looking sheepish and seeing his ex with Charlie boy trying to kill them was definitely a shock to the system he thought.

"Did you say Harmony?" growled Buffy trying to restrain herself from kicking him in the shin.

"Yes, but I did not end up screwing the silly bint because she went crazy and tried to bite me. You slept with that creature known as the Immortal and your friends probably knew while you made me keep our relationship in Sunnydale a secret "rumbled Spike. Buffy became infuriated by his accusation and slapped him hard.

"You are predictable Slayer and I see that we have resorted to kick the Spike part of this round of arguing" said Spike with a hint of sarcasm in his voice but also hurt.

"Now look Spike while I am not happy that you did not contact me and nearly slept with Harmony. I've seen the best and the worst of you and I understand with perfect clarity that you are a champion and that you are hell of man" said Buffy and Spike remembered the line about clarity from his speech in Sunnydale when they were facing the First. Buffy slowly walked out of his room while she did not feel any better, she had to admit that Spike had a point.

Meanwhile in another part of L.A Lindsey and Eve were driving around his pickup truck trying to look for the being that they had called forward in time. Lindsey had a cattle prod that he had acquired on the black market just in case of emergencies. Finally, they located a skinny young man walking around with a confused expression on his face.

"That's him and I recognize his face from the files that the Senior Partners had on him" breathed Eve

"I got the cattle prod ready" said Lindsey and stopped the truck and he had fond memories of his truck although he did have to get rid of the sign that Angel posted on the back as a prank which had read Cops suck. He walked out

"Hey kid are you lost?" asked Eve

"I am looking for the Hyperion Hotel because I need Jasmine to explain what has been going on lately in L.A." replied the skinny young man with light brown hair and to a secret pang in Lindsey's heart the boy had his mother's eyes.

"Well come with me and we can get answers from Jasmine together" said Lindsey

"Why should I trust you? I have never met you before in my life" said the younger man suspiciously. Holtz had always told him never to trust anyone that he did not know and he never met his man before.

"Well you don't but look I am unarmed and we can work together in finding Jasmine" said Lindsey and Eve waited in the passenger seat of the truck.

"Ok and what's your name" asked past Connor and he was feeling rather hungry and could not remember the last time he had eaten or what had happened to him. The last thing he remembered was everyone talking about Fred rejecting Jasmine's love and then running off.

"My name is Lindsey and my girlfriend is waiting in the truck" said Lindsey and Connor followed them into the truck.

Meanwhile in one of the rooms occupied by the good guys an athletic looking brunette was writhing in passion being on top of her boyfriend as they were having sex.

"Wait Faith stop please" breathed Connor as a rush of new memories ran through his mind of meeting Lindsey just now even though he had not met the man before in either of his lives.

"What's wrong stud and am I hurting you" asked Faith frowning in concern and they had been having fun to work off the excess energy developed after fighting Gunn and his men outside the Hyperion.

"No nothing like that and I don't mind if there is a little pain with the pleasure" replied Connor

"So, what's the problem?" asked Faith moving off to him and lying next to him.

"I have been new memories of disappearing from 2003 and meeting a man called Lindsey McDonald a few minutes ago. I know that this sounds absolutely insane but this is what I am remembering" said Connor

"Right what we need to do is get dressed and meet with Angel" said Faith now putting on a bra and looking for her clothes. The mention of that sleazy lawyer Lindsey alarmed her and she hated the man for trying to get her to kill Angel and she ended up being locked up serving 25 to life until Wesley broke her out to capture Angelus.

" Yes, and maybe Dad can help to explain this because if I am being brought from the past into now. Things won't be good" said Connor seriously and he also put on his clothes.

"I remember kicking your ass in 2003 so how bad could things get" said Faith with a questioning look.

"I was not trying to seriously hurt you because Holtz told me that Slayers are good. I just wanted you out of the way so that I could deal with Angel. If past me hears about Jasmine being dead then you and your friends might see a version of me going postal" replied Connor.

"I am glad that you are no longer that guy that is trying to hurt Angel" said Faith

"Yes, so am I but maybe you should shower as Dad might recognize my scent on you with his vampire sniffing powers" said Connor now getting dressed.

"That would not bother me too much as Angel probably know that we are together from B" replied Faith with a grin. The couple went to find Angel who was pacing in his room with a brooding expression.

"Hello Faith and hello son I thought that you were occupied earlier" said Angel and he tried very hard to forget the sounds of his son and Faith having sex. However, he was glad that his son was a normal young man who was like his mother being clever and bright eyed. But he had the champion's attraction to the strong, dangerous and the glamorous. Faith was all of that he thought.

"Hello big guy and I am glad to see that you are looking better. I was sorry to see Gunn being a vampire as I know how much that it would have hurt you" added Faith

"Well Dad and recently I have been having memories from disappearing from 2003 and then meeting someone called Lindsey just a few minutes ago. I know that this sounds insane but we live in a world where the word normal does not apply" said Connor

"Lindsey is seriously dangerous and he has probably called you forward in time hoping that you will kill me or Gunn" said Angel and he was shocked that Lindsey was back although the Senior Partners could and did resurrect people that they found useful such as Darla.

"Right and you know that me from the past is not going to like Spike. By the way how is Spike connected to us? I know that he is the other vampire with a soul from Faith who had died to save the world from the First" said Connor questioningly

"Spike is my grandson because when I was Angelus, I turned Drusilla and your mother told her to turn the first idiot that she came across and we ended up with him" replied Angel

"Was this after Holtz?" questioned Connor trying to suppress the pain of those memories and he no longer respected the vampire hunter who only used him as a tool to punish Angel for the crimes of Angelus.

"Yes, about a century after he had disappeared" replied Angel

Around the same time in Lindsey's new apartment past Connor was drinking tomato soup that Lindsey had made. Eve winced at his table manners as he was drinking it out of the bowl and then he put the bowl down and spoke.

"So, can we look for Jasmine now?" asked past Connor impatiently

"Oh, you are just as impatient as your father" sneered Eve

"Don't you dare compare me to him! Dad is a monster according to Holtz and I have seen the beast that he hides" growled Connor from the past.

"Yes, we all know Angel is a monster and I have bad news for you he killed Jasmine a year ago with Gunn's help. We want to help you to deal with them" said Lindsey soothingly

"Typical of dear old dad always trying to make me miserable and did Fred infect Gunn or something?" asked Connor with a sneer that reminded Lindsey of the alternate version of Angelus sneering at him which alarmed him.

"What's Fred got to do with this" asked Lindsey

"Yes, Fred went crazy and infected Gunn and your father with her lies about your daughter. Then they had killed her for no reason" said Eve coolly.

"Where is she?" asked Connor

"Dead but your Angel is alive and has teamed up with another vampire known as Spike" replied Eve

"I can help you and now can you get me somewhere that I can rest" said Connor from 2003.

"You can sleep on the couch" said Lindsey and he and Eve went into the bedroom.

In the morning Angel called a meeting to discuss the new revelations.

"I thought that bint Eve was dead and Lindsey too" said Spike

"Well he seemed alive to me and do you know him Spike?" asked Connor

"All too well mate as he sent the amulet with me in it to your dad's office and then made me corporeal in a complicated plot to make Angel miserable" replied Spike

"Well we think that he has brought me here forward in time to kill Gunn, Angel and possibly you" said Connor

"I am not seeing that there is a problem here" said Xander eating a doughnut.

"Well I did not like vampires in 2003 because of Holtz raised me to hunt down and kill them especially Angel and Spike would also be a target soul or not" said Connor

"I've read about Holtz and he must have been a terrifying fellow because all records suggest that he had killed nearly 400 vampires with his team in his pursuit of Angelus and Darla" said Giles seriously.

"400 and I have not killed nearly that many and B and I are Slayers" said Faith looking shocked and Buffy also looked taken aback.

"The count is accurate Darla and I went to his house to teach him a lesson that he would never forget as it offended us that some mortal was acting like a Slayer" said Angel trying not to remember the horror that his soulless counterpart had inflicted on Holtz's family.

"That was not you but Angelus" retorted Buffy and despite whatever strong feelings she had for Spike. Angel was her first love and she wanted to comfort him seeing the stricken look on his face.

"B is right and I have seen Angelus and he is not you" agreed Faith

"Holtz was nuts Angel and whatever your psycho twin did back in the day. It does not excuse him from having his groupie to cut Wesley's throat or kidnapping Connor and taking him into hell" said Cordelia sharply. Buffy looked confused and then alarmed.

"The ladies are right and we have had differences Angel but we need to work together to stop whatever is coming" said Giles

"Well moving on we have the evil versions of dead boy senior and junior running around. Plus, Angel's son is in two time zones" said Xander trying to sum up.

"Yes, and I gave Angel summer vacation under the ocean because I thought that he had killed Holtz and he was older than Spike" replied Connor

"You don't need to worry about me little uncle and I took out two Slayers and I definitely can handle a past version of you" replied Spike

"I don't want our personal futures to be changed and I think that we are going have to capture past me and put him in that cage" said Connor

"Cage? What cage" asked Buffy

"The cage in the basement that we used to hold Angelus in 2003" said Cordelia quietly

"What moron let Angelus out" barked Buffy

"That would be Wesley although we did not realize that we were being manipulated by Jasmine at the time" said Angel

"Who none of you realized had taken over Cordelia" said Xander angrily and Angel had refused to dignify that with a come back and remained silent.

"Xander calm down" mumbled Willow and Cordelia laid a comforting arm on Xander's sleeve and he slowly calmed down.

"Ok and once you have located past Connor Willow can wipe his memories and send him back before he does any damage to the timeline or to us" said Buffy

Meanwhile in the sewers Gunn was with those who could walk after their confrontation with the Slayers and with Angelus's gang. The others such as Harmony were recovering from gunshot wounds and at least 8 had been staked.

"I can't believe that you let some of us get killed or shot at by those counterparts from another dimension and even the Slayers had accounted for a few of us" said a huge vampire angrily and he had recovered mostly from the attacks delivered by Spike and Buffy during the fight.

"Keep talking Tank and I will sweep out the sewer once I am done" snarled Gunn

"We nearly had the Slayers but we were betrayed by Angelus and his buddies" reasoned Rondell

"Yes, but our fearless leader did not see that coming and maybe we should offer our services to Angelus or William the Bloody" jeered one vamp and Gunn snarled in rage. He threw the stake at the heckler and he was dusted.

"Does anyone want to make another complaint about my leadership? Have I not led you well so far? while last night was a setback but Angelus and the white hats will soon pay in blood" barked Gunn.

"Plus, those who were killed proved that they could not keep up with the Slayers or with those rats who had turned on us" said Rondell

In another part of town in a mansion that had been taken over when the previous owners had fled there were a few drained bodies lying around.

"We need to deal with Gunn and his men before we can deal with the Slayers" said Darla

"Grandmother is right once the slave is gone along with the nasty Slayer. We can dance in the dust of the city" said Drusilla

"Actually, we are going straight home to warn the Master about Buffy once we have completed the mission" retorted Darla

"None of us would be weeping if the Master got it from the Buffy of our dimension" said Spike and he enjoyed the fight last night but seeing his other self-helping the Slayer was something that he wanted to forget. What happened to him in this dimension that would make him soft? He wondered.

"Quiet William and the Master should be respected" barked Darla

"Actually, Old Bat nose has had his time and it is our time when and if we get back" put in Angelus.

Please read and review and thanks to Starway Man for his reviews and those who have added their stories to their favorites or story alerts.


	8. Chapter 8

Ties that Bind chapter 8

Under the ruins of what used to be Wolfram and Hart 's L.A office before everything went to hell. A brunette woman is dragged by several of Gunn's men to Wesley. She looked pale and faint with terror.

"You have the compromised the goals of the Senior Partners Eve" said Wesley grimly.

"I haven't! I swear" said Eve looking terrified and the Senior Partners did not deal with betrayal well. Lindsey had been tortured in another dimension after he was exposed by Angel's team when he had tried to kill the elder vampire with a soul. They had removed his tattoos allowing her bosses to scoop him up.

"Yes, you have bringing Connor from 2003 to our time to kill Gunn and Angel which was not done with the authorization of the Senior Partners because I would know about it. Luckily the Senior Partners took steps to deal with this by linking the mind of Connor from 2004's with his past self so that he could warn Angel and the others" informed Wesley looking cold and forbidding.

"But surely the deaths of Angel, Spike and Gunn would be for the better for the firm" said Eve trying to argue her case

"You bitch! I am going to kill you" snarled Gunn looking as if he wanted to squeeze her neck with his bare hands.

" Yes thank you Charles now moving on without Spike the First Evil would have ruled or ended the world and the Senior Partners can't allow that to happen. Also, the Senior Partners wanted Angel alive in 2003 so that he could become CEO of the local branch. As for Gunn the Senior Partners feel that he might be suitable ally their future plans being a soulless vampire" replied Wesley sardonically.

"Well what are you going to do now Wes because you are a ghost" replied Lindsey sardonically

"It's not me who is going to deal with you and your girlfriend here but the Senior Partners themselves" said Wesley pointing at a portal opening up and three eight foot monsters stepped through and each had an animal head. One had the head of a Wolf and the other had the head of a Ram and the last had a Hart's head. Lindsey shivered in fear while Eve took a step back and looked alarmed

"The liaison is right and we did not authorize you to bring forth the past self of the Destroyer to kill the vampires with the souls. It is more delightful to watch them struggle like fishes in a net and try to put this city to right when they are doomed." boomed the three monsters in unison.

"But they escaped from wherever you were keeping them so they are still dangerous" protested Lindsey and he thought that the Senior Partners would have scooped Angel up like they did to him for his betrayal of the Circle of the Black Thorn

"That we did not expect we thought our agent would have kept Buffy Summers occupied. Still her being here is delightful because she has to face the demons who wear the faces of the vampires that she loves but they want to kill her and the others because these versions of Angelus and William have not succumbed to the disgusting emotion of love for the Slayer" chortled the Senior Partners

"Please remember that if any punishment is to be allocated then don't blame me! Blame Lindsey as it was his plan to bring the Destroyer from 2003 forward in time" wailed Eve and despite her love for Lindsey and the plans that they had together. It looked like those plans were on the verge of blowing up and she did not want to die horribly.

"You bitch Eve after everything that I have done for you" snarled Lindsey

"I would have told ya man that the woman is trouble if l liked you" commented Gunn smiling evilly and he was enjoying the show. Although he was a bit worried about two Connors being in the same timeline because one was bad enough, he thought.

"Enough! We are going to make sure that you can't damage our plans any longer" growled the Senior Partners and with one look from them there were blue flames that covered Eve and she screamed in pain until she was burned to a crisp. Next Lindsey felt the lash marks of an invisible whip on his flesh and he howled in pain.

"Try and endure it man and Eve got what she deserved" said Gunn with a laugh and despite the attack on his men by an alternate version of Angelus and his gang. It looked like that things were finally looking up. Finally, Lindsey fell on the ground gasping with pain. He looked into the eyes of the Wolf despite his blurry consciousness and it seems that it was chanting something.

"I trust with you have tasted our displeasure that you won't step out of line now" said the Senior Partners glaring at the fallen Lindsey.

"Why did you spare me instead of killing me like you did with Eve" croaked Lindsey

"We don't tolerate fools who think that they can lie to us and get away with it. Besides we now own you for good" replied the Partners before disappearing.

"Yes, Lindsey so get up instead of lying there on a floor like an idiot" said Wesley

Lindsey slowly rose to his feet and a part of him had wanted to cry for Eve as he thought that the brunette would be the one to help him get over Darla but she was dead like Darla and he was still alive. A larger part of him wanted to thank his lucky stars that he was still alive for now and could take revenge on Angel.

Meanwhile in a room of the hotel Buffy faced her first love and this was the first time that they been together on their own. Buffy had gone to Spike to sort out their issues. A few months ago, this would have made Angel very jealous of his former protege. But now they were bigger fish to fry and the dark vampire could admit to himself very deep down that he would rather have Buffy be with Spike rather than the Immortal. Besides he did have Nina the blonde werewolf that he cared for but she was probably angry with him for sending her and her family out of town without any explanation.

"So how did you not lose your soul when you and Darla made Connor" asked Buffy and once this news would have devastated her. When she was a teenager, she had wanted to be the mother to Angel's son but those were romantic fantasies. They had changed since then and had grown apart. However, the Slayer in her was a bit worried about facing the alternate versions of Angelus and an evil Spike along with Darla and Drusilla because while she had defeated each vampire one at a time apart from the time that Angel staked Darla. She has never gone up against the four of them at once.

"Darla never made me happy and that was a moment of perfect despair" replied Angel and his ex-did look good. Rome must have agreed with her he thought.

"Well I don't know what to say about that. I am sorry for what Andrew did. I never told him to say that I did not trust you or your team it must have been Giles who told him to say that" replied Buffy and at the time she had wanted to strangle Andrew for botching up the Dana assignment. What if Giles had explained about the DVD that she saw of Angel killing Connor and would that have changed things for the better or the worse? She wondered.

"I know that now but at the time it felt like a slap in the face that you did not trust me or my team" said Angel seriously

"Yes, it seems that you had your reasons for throwing in with the firm that tried to bring you down. I do understand them but there should have been another way to help your son" said Buffy

"Probably and will you go to Spike once this is over" asked Angel changing the subject not wanting to dwell on the mistakes that he had done which involved his son.

"I am not sure and I am glad that he is still undead because I mourned for him but the fact that he did not call for a year makes me want to kick his ass" said Buffy

"Please give him a chance because while he is a pain the ass. He can be a good man with the soul because I have seen it" said Angel remembering the other souled vampire who brought up uncomfortable truths but stood by him in his final confrontation with the Circle and endured imprisonment and mental torture in a hell dimension.

"I would never have believed that I would have seen the day when you would ask me to give Spike a chance" said a shocked looking Buffy

"Spike has been family to me and the last member of my team and being tortured in a hell dimension that has given me time to think" replied Angel

"Hi B" said Faith's voice

"Yes Faith" asked Buffy

"A group of us are going patrolling looking for Gunn and his men. Do you want to come?" asked Faith

"Sure, and let me put on my shoes and get Mr. Pointy and I will be there" said Buffy and she focused the best when she was Slaying and after doing that, she saw Spike and Connor along with Faith waiting at the front door.

The two Slayers, one vampire with a soul and Connor walked around the streets of L.A and finally they had come across a gang of vampires tormenting some women who were huddle against an alley.

"Oh, come on I am not going to hurt you and I can make the experience rather erotic" said one vampire gleefully at one of the terrified women.

"What is wrong with your face?" asked a redhead shaking in fear

"Hey guys why don't you pick on some people your own size" said Buffy at the vampires

"Slayers and that traitor William the Bloody" growled a vampire

"Gunn wants them for himself" said a third vampire looking worried. While he was not a part of Gunn's gang, he could respect the black vampire who was rising up through the ranks of the underworld despite being being recently turned according to the rumors in the demon bars.

"Never mind him and I am going to be a legend for taking out William the Bloody who had been legendary but is now clinging to the skirt of a Slayer" said a vampire the size of a line-backer

"Come on then mate and better people and demons have tried to take me out and I am still here" growled Spike.

The fight was on Buffy and Spike fought well together and Spike launched a solid right cross to his opponent's face. While Buffy used a spinning kick against another one that was sneaking up on Spike. The vampire howled in pain as her kick connected with his ribs. Shen pulled out Mr. Pointy and staked the vampire who dusted.

"How it's going Spike?" asked Buffy

"Bloody marvelous pet and a tussle with vampires is good for the soul" replied Spike and he had defeated the vampires who were attacking him.

Faith was fighting a few vampires with ease while Connor was supporting her. She dusted hers with ease.

"Hello cutie" said a familiar voice and the alternate Spike was looking at Buffy and he was holding hands with Drusilla.

"Wicked girl wants Spike but she is not going to have him" said Drusilla in a sing song voice

"This is not good" said Buffy remembering an evil Spike and Drusilla all too well.

"Bloody hell" commented Spike with the soul and seeing his alternate evil self and his sire was something he could do without. It reminded him of those days in Sunnydale when the First was controlling him and tempting him to slip over to the dark side. Luckily with Buffy's help he resisted its temptations and went out a hero rather than a monster.

"You are prettier than the last Slayer that I killed. That particular bint begged for her life but it strikes me that you won't beg blondie" said an alternate Spike smiling maliciously

"Spike! Grandmother says that we must go for the brunette Slayer not the blonde one" whispered Drusilla

"What Grandmother doesn't know won't hurt her" replied alternate Spike

"Go near Buffy and you will be in a dustpan before the sun is up" interrupted the souled Spike and he was having memories of his first confrontation with Buffy and the thoughts disturbed him a great deal.

"Oh, look and here is a souled me and I got news for you mate. It is bleeding unnatural for vampires to have souls or to help Slayers when we are meant to kill them. This makes it a one good day for us when those bints die" replied alternate Spike smiling evilly at his souled counterpart

"This is going to hurt a lot Spike" replied Buffy and she remembered fighting Spike for the first-time during Parent Teacher night when he and his men had crashed it. They quickly exchanged blows and alternate Spike proved to be a just as good fighter as mainstream Spike who had once fought against her but then fought with her. This worried her but then Faith nodded to Connor who kicked Spike in the chest and Spike growled at him.

"Wait for your turn mate and are you Connor?" said alternate Spike recognizing the young man from ghost Wesley's descriptions.

"Yes, what of it" said Connor

"I have been wanting to meet you mate to see what being Angelus and Darla had created in this world. However, I have got to tell you that the only thing that those two could create is bloody garbage and not a hero" taunted an alternate Spike laughing evilly.

"Angel and Darla created me and he is a hero while I am trying to be" snarled Connor infuriated and he launched a punch at Spike's head but the evil vampire blocked it and sent him staggering back with a roundhouse punch to the younger man's stomach.

"Its sad to see that I have gone soft in this world by protecting Slayers and Happy Meals on legs but oh well I can correct that by killing you and blondie" taunted evil Spike to his souled self.

"You won't hurt the Slayer mate because she is something special. Anyway, she sent both Angelus and the Master to hell in my world and they were older than us" said souled Spike

"Dear Spike has gone away to her and your heart stinks of the nasty Slayer. The moon tells me that the Wolf Ram and Hart has plans for you and the Angel beast. It has already killed the nasty lady" said an alternate Drusilla looking as crazy as ever.

"I did not miss you one-bit Dru and how could your other self-leave me for a chaos demon I would never know" growled souled Spike not wanting to decipher Drusilla's rantings. It was often difficult to know back in the day whether she was seeing the future or having a laugh. Mostly Angelus had left it to him to work it out back in the day.

Faith quickly kicked Drusilla in the chest and she smiled insanely and turned to her.

"Does the silly girl want to play rough" asked Drusilla smiling at the brunette Slayer

"Well let's then dance then bitch" growled Faith and she evaded Drusilla's next blow before kicking her in the chest. Drusilla laughed and it sent shudders down Connor's spine hearing the madness and evil in the laugh. He also punched Drusilla in the face sending her back.

"How dare you punch her boy" snarled the alternate Spike and he then bashed Connor in the face with a left hook and quickly realized that there was no chance of fighting two Slayers and whatever Connor was along with his souled self and succeeding. He dragged Drusilla along. Connor got up now wincing from pain in his face.

'Well B at least we are still alive after all that" said Faith trying to inject a cheerful note and she had been worried by the skills of an evil Spike and was glad that the Spike of their dimension was on their side.

As they were walking back to the Hyperion a voice called out Spike's name and Buffy along with Faith got ready to fight.

"Wolf girl is that you?" asked Spike recognizing the petite blonde who had dated his grand-sire

"Yes it's me and where is Angel? More importantly is he alright" asked the blonde with an imploring look on her pretty face

"Who the hell is this?" asked Buffy suspiciously

"Buffy Summers meet Nina Ash" said Spike making the introductions

Thanks to Starway Man for his kind comments and please read and review.


	9. Chapter 9

Ties that Bind chapter 9

"You are looking good pet and Cabo must have agreed with you" said Spike looking at the petite blonde who was now tanned. Although he could not understand what she saw in the magnificent poof although Nina being here would prevent his grandsire from trying to his make moves on Buffy.

"Yes, it was nice to see the sun and enjoy the beaches with my family" replied Nina

"Spike who is this woman and how does she know you and Angel" questioned a suspicious looking Buffy who regarded the petite blonde in casual but stylish clothes.

"This is Peaches's new girl and she is a nice puppy" said Spike

"By Peaches do you mean the big guy" asked Faith

"Yes, Angel helped her when she was attacked by a werewolf and she had strong feelings for him" explained Spike

"Well we formed a relationship after he asked me out after being turned into a puppet" said Nina now guessing that this was the Roman friend that Angel had mentioned her and a part of her was now a bit worried that she had come back for Angel.

"Angel a puppet? This must have been hilarious" choked Faith with laughter and Connor snickered. Nina also giggled remembering the sight. Buffy cracked a smile as she pictured it.

"Hang on does that mean when you and Angel visited Rome, she was already his girlfriend" asked Buffy feeling irritated.

"Well Peaches and I thought that you were in danger from that ponce" replied Spike

"For the last time I can take care of myself without the pair of you riding to my rescue" barked Buffy angrily.

"Well moving on is he ok and what happened to everyone?" asked Nina as everyone continued to walk back to their new base of operations.

"He was unable to contact you because he was locked up in a prison in a hell dimension along with myself and the Watcher's Council sent a team to come in and get him and I from there. But mostly the poof is on the mend now and you should come with us and see him," replied Spike with a serious expression

"I will and what's with his I must leave you for own good plan" questioned Nina with a scowl

"I don't know but he does that a lot" replied Buffy and Nina seemed to be innocent but sweet and if someone like her can offer comfort to her first love without releasing Angelus. How bad it can be? She thought and maybe it's time that she considered moving on from Angel for good by trying to get Spike back.

"What's with dear old Dad's liking for blondes" asked Connor suddenly and he remembered his mother, Faith's stories about Buffy and now this Nina woman.

"Angel is your dad? I thought that vampires are dead and cannot have kids" said a shocked looking Nina

"They are dead and Angel is the only one who did have a kid and I was kidnapped and taken to another dimension raised by someone who hated him. I later suffered a mental break and Angel had to ask Wolfram and Hart to arrange to alter reality" replied Connor giving a condensed version of what actually happened to him.

"Sounds heavy kid" replied Nina.

"My dad does try and protect those he cares about" said Connor feeling the need to defend his father

"Yes, but mostly he is an emotional cripple who wants to make decisions without asking" said Spike with an amused grin

"Spike!" said an angry looking Buffy nudging him in the shoulder and she was a bit worried about Connor losing it because Faith mentioned that Angel's son did have a temper. Connor scowled and the glare reminded Spike of Darla when she was peeved with him and Drusilla back in the day.

"You are probably right Spike but he does try and protect those he cares about" said Connor seriously.

"We can all agree with that" said Buffy and they continued to walk in silence towards their new base of operations. Nina bumped into Angel who was coming out of his room and they regarded with each other

"Nina is that you?" asked Angel looking shocked and a little worried

"Yes, it's me and why did you send me away?" questioned a peeved looking Nina

"If I hadn't, I would have watched you die when the Senior Partners sent their legions after my team" explained Angel

"I would rather be at your side than in the hell of wondering what happened to you and that I was not there to help or protect you" growled Nina loudly.

"I just wanted to protect you and your family that's why I gave you those tickets to get out of town" said Angel wincing at the volume.

"Yes, I am glad that you sent my family out of town and we did enjoy Cabo but you were my boyfriend and how can you think that I cannot help you with what you were going through? I know that you were turned in the 18th century but modern women today like to be involved with all aspects of their boyfriend's lives both good and bad. I can't just be the person that you turn to when everything is sunshine and roses because that's not a relationship that I want" explained Nina calming down.

"I don't have all the answers and I just thought that you would be better off without me" replied Angel

"Well do you want me to stay here or not?" asked Nina

"Yes, I would like you to stay and I am going to restart Angel Investigations" replied Angel

"Good and I am glad that your Roman friend got you and Spike out of that prison in another dimension" said Nina and she hugged Angel. The broody vampire smiled for the first time.

In another room Xander and Cordelia were hanging out catching up on their pasts.

"Say what was all that yelling earlier" said Xander

"That was probably Nina confronting Angel" replied Cordelia and she was pleased that her former boss and best friend found someone to love although did it have to be another blonde? She thought.

"Whose Nina?" asked Xander

"Angel's new girl" replied Cordelia and she still kept an eye on Angel and this included seeing his relationship

"Are we going to see a repeat of Deadboy's psycho counterpart attacking us" asked Xander seriously

"No, the curse won't activate as it has to be bliss rather than sex and Angelus can stay where he belongs" replied Cordelia

"Good and is she blonde by any chance?" asked Xander

"Yes, and an art student and a werewolf" said Cordelia

"A werewolf and that's new and it will be good that Angel has moved on from you or Buffy" said Xander

"I was never in love with the guy in that way and whatever I was feeling was all manipulated by Jasmine to drive a wedge between Angel and his son. All we had was a deep friendship and he does have a gay man's taste in clothes" said Cordelia

"Good and I would hate to compete with Dead boy over you like we did over Buffy and I always did wonder about Angel's sexuality because of his clothes" said a relieved looking Xander.

Then the front door blew open and Lindsey walked with the past Connor from 2003 and a few vampire hunters but Angel and the others fought them.

"It is a magic trick that you created another version of me because you did not want to deal with me daddy dearest" snapped the Connor from 2003 seeing another version of himself standing at Angel's side taking on Lindsey's team

"Yes, Angel your son likes me more than he does you. I would think that I would made a better dad for him rather than you said Lindsey with a grin at seeing Angel's fury and they exchanged blows and kicks. Both Connors squared up to each other.

"You are no better than Angelus or Darla as Holtz made us swear to cling to the good and destroy the evil and how come our daughter was not avenged" said past Connor in between punches

"Holtz was a madman who took us to hell and then manipulated us and he only cared about his revenge on Angel. Jasmine is a monster who ate people and took over Cordelia's body as well as causing the permanent midnight and sending the Beast to kill all those people not to mention that she took advantage of a confused and lonely boy and then released Angelus" said present Connor and he avoided his past self's kick and responded with a punch to past self's head that connected and past Connor grunted in pain. Then Cordelia joined the fray and tasered the Connor from past. Xander and others carried him to the basement.

"Again, with the taser and what's with people tasering me" said present Connor feeling the pain of being tasered. He remembered that Fred did it once when she found out what he had done to Angel by dumping him in the ocean for one summer. He realized now that Fred had every right to be angry because of the values that he had been handed down by the Reilly's family rather than the values of an insane vampire hunter in hell what he had done to Angel and his friends was more than treacherous.

"No! what about my revenge on Angel" gasped Lindsey seeing his partner knocked out and then tasered.

"Seriously Lindsey you are worse than a cockroach because you come back to cause trouble and trying to use a past version of Connor is over the line" growled Angel and he vamped out.

"Yes, and I want to cut his head off poof" said Spike after dispatching his opponent by knocking him out.

"Get in line Spike" growled Faith

"Guys, Lindsey is human and we don't start executing humans as that might start leading us to a darker place" reasoned Willow suddenly and she used her magic to push the rest of Lindsey's team right out of the hotel. She also thought about Warren and how she flayed him and then tried to end the world and she did not want to see any of her friends going to that darker place out of revenge.

"Willow is unfortunately right" said Buffy looking frustrated.

"Well what can we do with him" said Xander with a questioning look on his face.

Suddenly Lindsey produced a dagger and then menaced everyone with it.

"I don't want to be saved by your do-gooders because I am not Faith or your weakling of a son and I would rather die right here and now rather than face the punishment of the Senior Partners who have killed Eve. So, live with this Angel because I was the one soul that you failed to save" said Lindsey and he plunged the dagger into his heart and then died in the next few minutes. He had a spiteful smile on his face even in death.

"Ok and that's something new" said Faith

"Well someone needs to remove that body before it starts to smell" commented Buffy.

"Maybe Lindsey wanted to die dad and that's why he came here" said Connor seeing the dead man.

"Yes, and lots of people had wanted you to kill them whether it was me or Connor but you saved us Angel while Lindsey was weak, greedy and ambitious" said Faith and her dark eyes looked troubled but hopeful. She would rather have seen Lindsey do his time for the evil that he caused rather than killing himself.

"Perhaps you are right Faith" said Angel

"She is and Lindsey would have caused worse troubles for everyone and it was better this way" said Cordelia

"Where is Nina?" asked Buffy looking around

"I don't know because I have not seen her since the fighting starting" said a concerned looking Angel

"Well actually I punched someone for the first time Angel" said Nina from her spot and her hand hurt like hell. She had not punched someone since junior year.

"Well that's a yay for you then" said Cordelia

"Are you Cordelia Chase? Angel did mention you a few times" said Nina

"Yes, I am and all good I hope" asked Cordelia

"Yes, he said nice things about you but I thought that you were in a coma" said Nina

"I was but I returned to help him out" said Cordelia

"Angel does need more help so that's a good thing" said Nina

"Yes, and look after and keep the big guy happy but not too happy as we do not want to see two Angelus's" said Cordelia

"Who is Angelus?" asked Nina and everyone shuddered at the name remembering the terror the dark demon caused in Sunnydale or the mind games that he played with Angel's friends and son that he did in the permanent midnight

"The monster that Angel used to be and can be without a soul" said Buffy seriously

"Is that's when he gets perfectly happy" said Nina

"Yes, Nina and no one including you wants to see Angelus" said Angel looking worried and glum.

"I know how worried about Angelus you must be but I am not going to let this or you scare me away now that I found you again" said Nina seriously.

"Oh, I like her" commented Buffy now amused and Nina seemed to have a quiet strength about her and she was not easily scared away. Both were good things in her favour she thought.

"Yes, it's better than Angel forms an emotional link to someone because we can't be always be around to keep him on the straight and narrow" said Cordelia

"Do you think that I am helpless without some woman bossing me around" questioned an annoyed Angel

"Yes! You are but I hope Nina will be there to prevent you from wiping memories or making pacts with devils" retorted Cordelia sharply

"Do not worry Cordelia I will be there for him whether as a friend or a girlfriend" said Nina with a determined expression on her face.

In the ruins of Wolfram and Hart Wesley was meeting with Gunn and several vampires

"Lindsey is dead" said Wesley

"Good riddance and did Angel or Spike kill him then?" asked Gunn

"No, he killed himself in front of Angel" said Wesley

"Well I guess that is one less candidate for the Circle of the Black Thorn but I am still here" said Gunn

"What makes you think that you are worthy enough to join Charles?" asked Wesley

"Well Angel destroyed the former Circle with our help and the Senior Partners still need instruments to do their bidding in this dimension and I am willing to step up and have the power that they offered Angel but he threw away at the expense of our lives" retorted Gunn

"You do realize that you have to kill one of your closest lieutenants and can you do it?" asked Wesley

"Yes, I am prepared to sacrifice Harmony if that will help me to gain an entrance into that door and having no soul makes it easier to do" said Gunn seriously but with an evil smile.

"I will have to ask the Partners if they want to form a new Circle but don't get your hopes up" said Wesley

"Well do it and by the next time that we meet I want an answer English" snapped Gunn

Wesley disappeared from sight but an unhappy blonde vampire walked out from her hiding spot and walked to find Angel and stood outside his new base of operations.

"Harm! What you are doing here" said Spike seeing her.

"Its that bastard Gunn he wants to sacrifice me and I want to tell you and the Slayers everything so that you can kill him" snapped Harmony

"Why does he want to sacrifice you?" asked Angel now joining them.

"The more important question is why should we care" interrupted Buffy seeing Spike and Angel talk to Harmony outside their base.

"I heard him and Wesley talking and they were talking about a new Circle of the Black Thorn" said Harmony

"Bloody hell not again!" cursed Spike

"I thought the Circle was destroyed by us" questioned Angel

"Whistler did mention about them and Angel is right as weren't they all destroyed before Angel and Spike were sent to a hell dimension" said Buffy

"Yes, but Gunn hopes that the Senior Partners would want to form a new one and he wants to be a member and I don't want to die" said Harmony

"Well you are already dead Harmony so what's the problem" said Buffy

"Yes, Buffy you might be the Slayer but your clothes look like that they came from a second hand store" retorted Harmony

"Now Harm insult Buffy again stupid bint and I will personally deliver you to Charlie boy to do what he likes" growled Spike

"I will help him as well" said a serious looking Angel

"Now boys it is great that you want to protect me but first of all Nina is good for you Angel and secondly I have dealt with Harmony's nonsense since high school and she is still the same selfish cow that she was in high school the only difference is that she has fangs and drinks blood. Thirdly I do not need you guys charging to my rescue as if you were white knights on steeds because I am the Slayer and can take of myself" said Buffy

Please read and review and I would like to thank Starway Man for his kind reviews of this story so far.


	10. Chapter 10

Ties that Bind chapter 10

Gunn was prowling around in the house that he and his gang had taken over. he seemed to be looking for someone. While his meeting with Wesley was uneventful, he hoped that the door to becoming a member of the Circle of the Black Thorn would open up and all he had to do to prove himself to the Senior Partners was to help to destroy the Slayers and the traitors Angel and Spike. The next step was to sacrifice Harmony much like Angel had pretended to sacrifice Fred by allowing the old Circle to think that he had a played a part in turning her into Illyria.

"Harmony has run off" reported Rondell looking worried.

"You let her leave! You idiot" snarled Gunn

"Maybe she has gone out hunting for prey" suggested another vampire suddenly

"Well if she had don't you think that I will be there with her" barked Gunn

"Come on now what damage can she do as that white chick does not have two brain cells to rub together" said Rondell reasonably.

"No but she is hot though and I understand why Spike went for her" said Gunn with a wink. Although he had sensed something was terribly wrong and Harmony should be back by now.

"Well do you want us to find her?" asked Rondell

"Yes, and what if she heard something that she was not supposed to overhear and has run to Angel for help" said Gunn angrily.

"The Slayers would have dusted her on sight before she could say anything" said a muscular white vampire

"Not Buffy because she is an unusual Slayer by working with vampires such as Angel and Spike" said Gunn

"Yes, it was a shame that she has neutered Angel and Spike because according to the stories they were legendary dark warriors" whispered a skinny vampire and the names of Angel and Spike had caused fear among the vampiric community despite being regarded as traitors for having souls and hunting their own kind

"Their sun has set and mine is about to rise" said Gunn with icy menace.

"Interesting metaphor as aren't we supposed to be afraid of the sun?" said one of the vampires who was lawyer at Wolfram and Hart before being turned in the chaos that L.A was now in.

"You should be more afraid of me then of the sun or Angel" growled Gunn

"Right you three come with me and we will bring Harmony back even if we drag her out by the hair" said Rondell and four vampires ran off.

Meanwhile in Willow and Kennedy's room which had witchcraft supplies standing on a desk and stakes in a draw. The wardrobe had the contrast of Willow's fashionable clothes with Kennedy's more practical clothes such as a blue denim jacket and leather pants. The young couple were lying in bed panting heavily from their hours of fun.

"Wow that was hot babe" breathed Kennedy

"Yeah it sure was" replied Willow with a smile and she had snuggled next to her partner.

"So, it's been a crazy few weeks with rescuing Buffy's undead exes and meeting Faith's new boyfriend and when did she go for the younger guy with near Slayer strength" said Kennedy trying to sum up the events of the past few days.

"Well yeah but the life of a Slayer is more like a horror movie rather than a romantic comedy" replied Willow partially jokingly.

"Is it weird to see your former classmates again that Cordelia chick and that vamp with blonde hair?" asked Kennedy regarding her girlfriend seriously but in a caring manner.

"Well when we were at school Cordelia and Harmony were the popular girls and I wasn't. I was just friends with Buffy and Xander and even when Cordelia and Xander got together. we simply did not get on. But she seems to have changed now as working with Angel must have made her more caring and nicer to others" said Willow trying to reconcile in her mind the spoiled queen bee with the mature and powerful woman that Cordelia now was.

"Well people do change since their high school days and in most cases, it is for the better" replied Kennedy wisely

"I can agree with that although Harmony has changed for the worse" said Willow and they fell asleep with Kennedy's gentle snores filling the room.

In the following morning about 7 am Connor was eating his breakfast and with a cup of coffee right next to him.

"You're up early and having a big breakfast" said a voice and he turns around and looks at Cordelia and he felt apprehensive as the things between him and Cordelia were rather oedipal before Jasmine had entered the world.

"Hello Cordy it's been a while" said Connor trying to remain calm.

"Yes, it sure has and I am really sorry for the things that you remember. Well I am sorry for the things that you remember about me" said Cordelia and at one point before Jasmine invaded her body, she had seen Connor as her son because she had changed his diapers which made what happened to them when he came back extremely sick in her opinion.

"You mean that the part when you were taken over by our supposed daughter and us sleeping together" replied Connor

"Yes, that's what I mean" said Cordelia looking a bit pale.

"Thanks for apologizing but I don't know if I am saying the right things here" stuttered Connor

"You are doing good it's not every day that you talk to your supposedly dead maternal figure slash former lover and raging maniac" said Cordelia trying to sound reassuring.

"Was Jasmine my fault? I did a lot of bad things to my father and the others" said Connor trying to prevent his voice from quivering.

"I came back wrong Connor and that wasn't me and it wasn't you. Holtz, Justine and Jasmine in my body all brainwashed you against Angel" said Cordelia trying to remain calm.

"I guess that I could not think for myself and was eager to believe Holtz and then Jasmine's lies" whispered Connor sniffling a little.

"You were lied to by Holtz while you were in that hell dimension and Jasmine preyed on your need for your family. So, give yourself a break kiddo" said Cordelia.

"Thanks for talking to me and I appreciate that despite our past" said Connor

"I appreciate you not hating me" replied Cordelia

"Whatever happened should stay in the past and it wasn't you but Jasmine who did all those things" said Connor

"Well you have matured as the old you weren't this understanding" said Cordelia smiling.

"Well the memory wipe wasn't all bad although I wonder about Dad's deep-thinking skills by allowing Wolfram and Hart to arrange an altered reality when that law firm had wanted to dissect me" replied Connor

"True and his decision to become Wolfram and Hart's new CEO had shocked many people" said Cordelia

"Including me" said Faith now walking in in a sweat pants and a tank top

"Morning Faith" said Cordelia and she felt a little guilty about Jasmine's monster the Beast inflicting that serious beatdown on Faith when she had broken out from prison and had risked being recaptured by the police to save Angel. Cordelia also noticed that Faith looked a lot calmer and unless insane in comparison to her Sunnydale days or when she had tried to kill Angel in his first year in Los Angeles.

"Hello C" said Faith cheerily.

"Hello Faith and what are you doing up early?" asked Cordelia

"I knew if that stud was not in my bed he would be here eating" said Faith

"That's one big breakfast" commented Cordelia noticing Connor's breakfast of sausages, hash browns and eggs.

" I wonder where does he put all that food away sometimes" said Faith and she knew her boyfriend was a big eater but still remained as skinny as ever.

"Well fighting and other things burns off calories" said Connor

Faith then fixes a coffee and then steals a sausage right off Connor's plate and starts eating it. Cordelia looked rather amused at seeing them as a couple sharing food. With her being taken over by their goddess daughter that ate people back in the day. Faith was calm and normal compared with all that. Next both Buffy and Spike walk in together followed by Nina and everyone starts making their own breakfast and greeting each other.

Meanwhile in the mansion that was occupied by the alternate whirlwind they were just moving around with heavy curtains to block out the sun which they were all appreciative about.

"So, Lindsey is dead" said an alternate Angelus and he heard from one of his sources in Gunn's gang about what happened to the former lawyer.

"Pity as he was an attractive looking man" replied Darla

"Forget him woman! Remember me? I want to see if this blonde Slayer is worthy of my time and she had survived Spike and Drusilla so there must be something special about her" said Angelus with a menacing growl

"Then will you kill her as you promised and surviving Spike and Drusilla can't have been too difficult as the Master and I consider them an embarrassment to our line" replied Darla sardonically

"I will kill her when I am good and ready until then we can have plenty of fun in this world without the Master controlling you or I. Have you already forgotten the hunts that we have been on?" barked Angelus grabbing a fistful of Darla's hair. She elbowed him in the face and he vamped out and then she giggles at the sight. He resumed his human features and smirked at her.

"Of course, not and once the Slayers are dead, we can go back and finish Buffy in our world. Then the Master will rise from underground prison and we will rule with him. There will be a grand massacre and we will feast for days" said Darla and then Angelus kissed her savagely as if the idea of a massacre and feasting turned him on. Although the idea of the Master rising did not please him very much.

"Daddy wants to see how the nasty blonde Slayer ticks before hurting her like how he had hurt me" sang Drusilla walking in.

"Oh, how wonderful being interrupted from our kiss by the lunatic" said Darla sarcastically to her dark-haired lover.

"That's right Dru and breaking a Slayer is an art that must be savoured and enjoyed" said Angelus turning his attention from Darla to his mad childe.

"Or you can just rip out her throat and be done with it. Like how I did with that Chinese bint as that works equally well mate" suggested Spike

"Thank you for your suggestion William but are you forgetting your place now? I am not your mate" said Angelus sharply

"What place? When I killed those Slayers without your help so I think that I know what I am doing" growled Spike and Angelus slapped him across the face. Spike growled and punched his grandsire in the head.

"I think that our boys are going to fight Dru" said Darla

"Yes, and the King of Cups says that I was your mummy in this world" replied Drusilla and Darla frowned at her not understanding what she might have meant by that.

"Enough fighting boys and our energies should be devoted to destroying the Slayers and Gunn's group not trying to kill each other" snarled Darla at both Angelus and Spike.

"It is not my fault as William disrespected me" complained Angelus

"Really mate and you are not head of the family but the ice queen is" said Spike

"That's right William I am and without me or Angelus you would have died a hack poet in London if your audiences had not torn you to shreds due to your poor poetry that does not rhyme" growled Darla.

Riley and Sam had arrived at the hotel with Graham and some members of their team.

"What have you and Spike done to Los Angeles Angel" said Riley suspiciously

"Now look General Git this is all Angel's plan not mine and we have suffered enough in a hell dimension so the last thing that we want is your prejudices" growled Spike

"Wolfram and Hart was the canter of a hostile operation with interests hostile to your government as one of your Senators was actually a demon installed in a human body" replied Angel not wanting to deal with Riley's suspicious nature today or any other day.

"Do you expect me to take your word for that? Angel" replied Riley regarding the older vampire with a cold but measuring look.

"Which Senator do you mean Angel" asked Sam trying to sound more friendly.

"Brucker" replied Angel remembering the demon that was installed in the body of a human woman and was part of the Circle of the Black Thorn. But Gunn had killed her before the battle in the alley.

"I never liked her and I thought it was bit suspicious that one of her rivals suddenly confessed to crimes all of a sudden" said Sam

"Moving on and we need your help Riley in dealing with the vampires and demons that are around. By the way the black guy in charge of the vampires is Charles Gunn a former associate of Angel's." said Giles trying to get them focused on the task at hand.

"We are already doing that and is there anything that we need to know" asked Riley

"There is another version of Angel and his family running around in L.A so please check before you stake Angel or Spike" said Buffy

"What other versions?" asked Graham suddenly.

"I mean that Angel's former bosses have brought in a version of Angel and Spike who have no souls and are evil from another dimension along with their girlfriends"

"Are we suddenly in an episode of Star Trek now?" complained Riley

"Well that sounds rather sci fictiony it is true as we have already seen them" said Buffy

"Thanks for the new intelligence and I will contact our superiors in Washington about Brucker" said Sam

"Yes, you do that and you will find that the firm is in full retreat now and many of the vampire clients should be easy for you guys and the Slayers to pick off now as they don't have protection anymore" replied Angel

"How fortunate that we have your inside experience of them" said Riley a little sarcastically. The Finns and their team had left.

Please read and review and thanks for Starway Man for his reviews and advice.


	11. Chapter 11

Ties that Bind chapter 11

Everyone apart from Nina had gathered around the cage in the basement which had held the Connor from 2003.

"Faith is that you?" asked Past Connor recongizing the brunette Slayer

"Yes, Junior it is and you are going back to 2003 where you belong" replied Faith

"Instead of trying to kill your father" snapped Buffy

"Angel deserves whatever he gets because he is a demon and a monster" snarled past Connor looking livid at being caged.

"It's just that sort of talk that made me beat you up when you tried to stake Angel, Junior." said Faith

"I found your strength and toughness to be hot and it was shame that you were protecting Angel as aren't Slayers supposed to dust vampires" said past Connor

"We do but things aren't always simple" replied Faith

"If he is your past self that means you liked Faith beating on you" said Xander suddenly to present Connor with a disturbed expression on his face.

"Yes, that's right I did, and I am not sure if any teenage boy could have ignored Faith because she is freaking hot both now and back then" said present Connor.

Faith had an amused grin on her face hearing this while in contrast Buffy had a look of disbelief.

"He likes it when a Slayer beats him up and he is definitely family because of that" chortled Spike

"Spike! This isn't the time or the place for your comments" growled Angel with an annoyed expression.

"It never is the time or the place for Peroxide King's comments" put in Xander.

"Moving on and we are going to send you back to 2003 so that you can't damage the timeline and we are wiping your memories with magic" said Willow

"Magic! Seriously you people rely too much on that nonsense" grumbled Connor from 2003

"Magic is actually helpful and it is Angelus who is the monster and not Angel. Angelus is something that our Dad is forced to wear" commented present Connor referring to the memory wipe that Wolfram and Hart had arranged which made him more stable after his mind had snapped because he had killed his goddess daughter. Angel smiled proudly at hearing this.

Willow chanted a spell and past Connor was covered by a magical cloud and fell into a heap.

"What was that" asked Faith

"That was to remove his memories of 2004 and I am now going to send him back" said Willow and she then chanted in Latin and past Connor disappeared back to Los Angeles of 2003 as a portal encompassed him.

"Well that's one thing taken care off" said Buffy

"Well maybe we can have some downtime" said Xander

But then Cordelia's eyes turn white and everyone turns to look at her.

"I think that she is having a vision so give her some room" said Angel recognizing what was happening to his best friend.

"Yes, and Angelus, Darla and the rest of the Manson family are on the way to Gunn's place in Beverly Hills and it is house 502 and they are going to kill him" said Cordelia now recovering.

"Ok and this is our chance to get all of them so everyone must be ready" said Buffy decisively

"Err Buffy and should we be involved in a vampire civil war?" asked Xander with a look of seriousness.

"Well we can't risk them involving bystanders in their conflict as they might use human shields" replied Buffy

"She's right and Darla might do that" said Angel

"Nice ex that you had Dead Boy" commented Xander sarcastically.

#############################################

Gunn and Rondell were waiting for the takeout that they had ordered.

"Chinese has an interesting flavour and it tastes great" said Gunn

"Absolutely and what did you order for us today boss" said Rondell looking gleeful but expectant

"Indian and there will be someone from the curry restaurant with a Lamb Rogan Josh but we will be drinking his blood rather than eating the curry" said Gunn with a snicker.

There was a knock at the door and every vampire turned to look.

"That was quick! Josh go to the door and see who it is" said Gunn

"Sure, thing boss" said Josh who was the former Wolfram and Hart lawyer now being turned into a vampire and many of the gang joked about his past about being lawyer turned vampire. He opened the door and it wasn't the Indian curry delivery but Angelus, Darla, Drusilla and Spike at the door. Angelus punched the first vampire as he had entered.

"Boss it is Angelus and his family they are here!" shouted one of the vampires.

"That's not nice dearie trying to change the game" said Drusilla and she gouged out his eyes and laughed madly. The other vampire shrieked in pain before Spike dusted him.

"Where is Gunn youngsters?" barked Darla at the vampires blocking her path inside.

"I am not going to tell you bitch" replied a vampire and Darla shot him in the knee. The vampire screamed in pain. In the meantime, Angelus went room to room looking for Gunn and he eventually found him in one of the upstairs rooms.

"Darla, I have him" said Angelus from upstairs and he and Gunn exchanged punches and Gunn blocked his first blow and then Angelus punched him in the face and Gunn winced in pain.

"You are not going to win this Angelus as I have more vamps than you" said Gunn and he used a spinning kick but Angelus his superior speed and the kick missed and then the fark haired vampire hit the black man's knee with a punch and Gunn fell back wincing in pain.

"Really? How do you think that I found you and do you think that I found your address on the Yellow Pages? No one of your vamps is actually one of my sources" replied Angelus with a smirk.

"You lie and none of my men would cross me for you" snapped Gunn

"Actually, mate Angelus is telling the truth" said Spike now joining his grandsire and a third vamp stepped into the room. It was Josh smiling sardonically at his boss who was now cornered.

"Josh! You no good traitor" said Gunn in a raging fury.

"Yes and it took how long for you to learn my name when I had worked under you in the legal department and a good lawyer knows when to fold his cards and join the superior team and Angelus and William the Bloody are older than you and I don't want to be on the losing team" said Josh.

"Those no-good Slayers are here!" shouted one of the vampires from downstairs and there sounds of fighting and vamps being dusted.

"William go downstairs and help Darla with the Slayers but remember to leave the blonde one for me" ordered Angelus

"Why should I mate? When this bloke and his men had tried to kill Drusilla in that alley" growled Spike.

"Do it or you will never see Drusilla again!" barked Angelus and Spike charged downstairs to assist his dark-haired lover who was laughing in glee and piles of dust had surrounded her

Darla had confronted Faith and both women had circled each other.

"You know you are a very pretty woman my dear and it seems my son in this dimension has good taste even though you are a Slayer" said Darla smiling evilly and she looked Faith up and down.

"You are certainly give a new meaning to meeting the mother that every girlfriend does these days" replied Faith trying not to be unsettled by Darla's look. They fought with Faith launching a spinning two footed double kick at Darla which knocked her back into the wall of the house and pressing her advantage Faith launched a left hook at Darla's face and then followed up with an uppercut at her jaw. Darla in a flash had lunged at her by grabbing her throat and tried to choke the life out of the Slayer.

"Put her down mom and deal with me" said Connor with a growl

"Connor isn't it and I am certainly displeased that you are protecting Slayers because no son of mine would protect these bitches" snarled Darla but she had dropped Faith down to the floor.

"You are not my mother but a demon wearing her face" snapped Connor

"Really? Is that what you are telling yourself when the version of me of this dimension had given life to you and it must be hard for you to see me son" teased Darla and Connor kicked Darla in the face.

"Yeah I know my mother loved me when she had tried to stop me from doing something terrible while you are the monster that had slaughtered Holtz's family along with Angelus" snarled Connor

"Holtz never cared for his family and I would have never staked myself for you even if you were my son with Angel" replied Darla with a cruel grin and they exchanged blows and then Faith got up and with a spin kick sent Darla back.

"I will be seeing you again son" taunted Darla and she ran upstairs to help Angelus and she fired a gun into Gunn's knee making him shriek in pain and Drusilla giggled in glee at the sound. Darla continued to fire at Gunn

"Do you have to shoot as what if you had hit me Darla" complained Angelus frowning at his blonde lover and sire.

"You should have ducked when you hear the sound of gunshots Angelus" responded Darla

"Now Gunn we have got you cornered and you have two options submit or die" said Angelus and he watched in glee at Gunn writhing in pain.

"I will never be your servant again Angelus" croaked Gunn and Drusilla and Spike had now walked in.

"Not so big are you mate" said Spike with a taunting grin.

"You know Spike that you are just as annoying as Angelus ever was when I knew you both with souls" responded Gunn despite the pains in his knee and chest.

"Finish him Angelus" said Darla and she handed him a stake but then Gunn tried to escape and Drusilla lunged at him and kicked him in the ribs when he had tried to crawl away.

"Thanks, Dru" said Angelus

"Daddy must finish the slave and then the Slayers" said Drusilla smiling insanely.

" I am no slave you spiteful cow" responded Gunn.

But then Buffy, Angel and the other good guys had charged into the upstairs room and Angelus and Darla smiled spitefully at them.

"So, we have the Slayers and the ensouled versions of William and I. I gotta tell you that seeing me with a soul is down there with seeing the Master in his sewer" commented Angelus smiling maliciously.

"Quiet about the Master in front of company" scolded Darla smacking her childe in the shoulder.

"The Master is dead in our world and you will be too" snapped the blonde Slayer

"You are just lucky to have defeated the Master Buffy and that's all" growled Darla

"Plus, old Bat nose must have surrounded himself with idiots in this world to let a Slayer destroy him" said Angelus sardonically

"You might be Angelus from another dimension but this is the woman who had sent us to hell along with the Master and you can go on that ride to hell along with Darla" replied Angel

"I met your son Angel and he seems to be more like you than me with his do gooder act" said Darla.

"My son is a good person and you are not Connor's mother as she is dead" said Angel furious.

Spike and Drusilla were amusing themselves by kicking Gunn repeatedly around and then Spike pulled out a stake and dusted Gunn.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish mate and enjoy hell" snapped Spike as Gunn turned to dust.

"That's my bad Spike and you have been a wicked boy" said Drusilla and they had kissed.

"Come on Spike stop kissing Drusilla and help us with the Slayers" shouted Angelus and he punched Faith in the face. But then Connor had kicked him in the chest sending him back and he had got up wincing in pain before yelling at Spike.

"Right and I am coming in a few minutes mate" said Spike and he took on Buffy in a showdown and they exchanged blows and kicks and Spike was sent flying back into a wall.

"I am going to tear you in half crazy bint" snarled Spike now vamping out in anger. Buffy had dodged his next attack and kicked him in the face with her right leg and he cursed in pain.

"We are not going to win this round and we need to retreat before one of us gets dusted and we have achieved what we had come here to do when William had dusted Gunn" yelled Darla and the Whirlwind saw the wisdom of staging a tactical retreat and had left and Angelus had cursed in pain as a dark haired man shot him with a crossbow and it hit his arm when he tried to dodge the bolt.

"Yeah you better run Angelus" shouted Xander as the dark-haired demon had to be supported by Darla cursing in pain.

"We will be back Slayers and white hats and look over your shoulder we will be there" roared Darla

#####################################################################

Angel had returned in along with his friends to the hotel that they were staying at and he ws wincing in pain.

"My god what happened to you Angel" said Nina looking concerned

"Fought with my alter ego and Gunn has been destroyed" replied Angel

"Take off your shirt and let me see if you have been injured" requested Nina and Angel removed his shirt and Nina checked him over.

"Well have I been injured?" asked Angel

"The wounds seem to have closed and I don't mind seeing my boyfriend shirtless" said Nina smiling and Angel smiled. While his romance with Nina was the great romance with Buffy or the deep friendship that he shared with Cordelia before loneliness made him think other things. He and the young blonde werewolf had mutual caring and affection between them and he found that he could have liked this romance that did not have all the drama that his previous relationships with Buffy or Darla had.

Thanks for your reviews and I would like to thank Starway Man for his kind comments and encouragement.


	12. Chapter 12

Ties that Bind chapter 12

AN: I don't own the characters but the plot is mine.

After Gunn had been betrayed and dusted a few hours ago. Angelus and his family faced the survivors of Gunn's gang. Some were looking fearful wondering what fate that they were going to have at the hands of the notorious Angelus and his Whirlwind while Rondell glared directly at Angelus.

"With your leader being dead you have two options either help us to finish the Slayers or you can be dusted right here and right now" warned Angelus

"I would take the offer if I were you guys because Gunn never cared about us as he was too busy trying to get in good with the Senior Partners and he did not care if he had to sacrifice all of us to do it" called out Josh to the gang that he was a part of before his betrayal.

"Listen to him and all we want to kill the Slayers so that we can go home and we don't care what you guys do after that" said Darla

"Gunn created this gang and brought all us together so why would we work for you?" replied Rondell glaring.

"If you don't work for us then all you be remembered as being the lapdog of a failed leader and it's time for you to step up and be the man" replied Angelus coldly.

"Never! I would rather run the gang then work for vamps that I do not even know" barked Rondell

"If that's' the way you feel about it then it is simple enough to fix matters without your interference. Any vampire who wants to join us must kill this simpleton" called out Darla and Rondell was soon cornered by the survivors who wore menacing grins on their faces.

"Has anyone brought some popcorn and this would be a good show mates" called out Spike relishing the fight that was about to come.

####################################################################

"Now listen guys we can take Angelus and his family and you should accept me as leader" said Rondell to his former gang.

"Sorry man but your time and Gunn's are over and we are going with Angelus and his family to wipe out the Slayers" replied a blond vampire. He struck Rondell in the face and the others were on him and there was sounds of punches being thrown While Angelus and Darla watched the show with amused smiles on their human faces. Drusilla clapped her hands in delight. Ro

Rondell got one vampire with a stake to the heart but slowly but surely the others were slowly overwhelming him and he was cornered with nowhere to turn and finally one of the vampires had lunged forward and had staked Rondell who then turned to dust.

"All hail Angelus and his family" shouted the local vampires and they bowed before the older vampires.

"This is just typical of you and Darla making everyone bow before you even in another dimension" commented Spike in distaste at the sight.

'Quiet William! Thank you for tying up this loose end and we will work together to destroy the Slayers and the white hats and this city will belong to the vampires" replied Angelus. The younger vampires cheered and they had accepted Angelus and his family as their leaders for now.

#################################################

In the ruins of Wolfram and Hart Wesley was communing with his superiors.

"The vampire Gunn has been destroyed and this will work to our advantage as while he had potential, he did not see that one of his own men would betray him to Angelus" said the voice of the Wolf

"Yes, and Charles was the muscle at Angel Investigations and not the brains" replied Wesley

"Quite and we had already foreseen the vampire's failure and downfall. Good job for stringing him along for as long as you did as we were never going to form the Circle of the Black Thorn with him as a member" said the Hart's voice

"What about Angel and Spike of this dimension as they can still cause a problem to your plans as they have support from the Slayers" said Wesley

"We already know that! Your new job is to contact Angelus and persuade him to recruit as many of the vampires as he can and with enough numbers the Slayers and the good guys such as Angel will be overwhelmed" boomed the voice of the Ram

"Yes, my masters" replied Wesley and calling these monsters masters was more than enough to bear but he had no choice in the matter. He then vanished.

########################################

Around the same time in the hotel Spike and Buffy were busy catching up as they had both had settled their previous issues. Spike was pleased to know that Buffy was going to break up with that ponce the Immortal and had told her about his adventures in Los Angeles. Buffy was shocked by Dana cutting off his hands. She also cracked an amused smile at hearing Spike fight a puppet Angel in a lift at Wolfram and Hart. Spike had also asked about Dawn and he smiled proudly at the news of Dawn training to be a Watcher. He had always considered the younger brunette to be like the sister he never had despite her threat to set on him on fire once.

"Maybe she can help Rupes to be more compassionate huh pet" commented Spike

"When this is over you should let her know that you are alive as we both missed you even when we were trying to put the Council back together" said Buffy seriously

"Really love? I did miss you because being with Peaches and his gang is not just the same as watching your back in the fight against the First" replied Spike

"It was not just my back you were watching huh Spike" teased Buffy

"Well you know me too well luv" said Spike with an amused grin on his face.

"And you know me as well my old enemy" said Buffy quietly and despite her choice of word of enemy it sounded more like my darling in Spike's ears.

############################################################

In another room around the same time Faith had stepped into the en suite bathroom and had taken off her black boots and then slipped off her shirt to reveal a body with bruises and her neck had a bruise from where Darla had attempted to strangle her. She then unhooked her black bra, unbuckled the belt and drops her jeans to the ground. She opened the shower door and stepped inside and turned on the knob of the shower and stood under the nozzle and the jets of water seemed soothing against her skin. She used soap to clean her wounds despite the fact that it stung a little.

"Faith are you alright in there" called out Connor from the bedroom.

"Five by Five babe and I am in the shower" replied Faith and if someone had told her some years ago that she was going to be in a relationship with Angel's son for more than a night. She would have laughed and thought that they were crazy. But life has its own twists and turns with her ex Robin who had taught her about trying relationships rather than loving and leaving. She still kept in touch with her ex and she was doing a good job in being the principal of the school and also being a Watcher to the Cleveland squad. At least he was cooler than Snyder ever was and she remembered the former principal of Sunnydale to be a bully and annoying man during the times that she actually bothered to turn up at school in those days. She had finished her shower and was in the process of blow drying her hair and walked out with a towel wrapped around her hips to see Connor on the phone.

"Yes, don't worry mom and I am with friends. Send me a text of the new address and I will try to visit you when this is all over. Love you and send dad and Gillian my love" said Connor on the phone and he disconnected the call after hearing the words of I love you from his mom.

"That's nice babe to remain in contact with your adoptive family" said Faith and Connor grinned at seeing girlfriend's toned but tanned body. While Faith had smiled tiredly but with genuine affection at him before they got under the covers of the bed as they continued to talk facing each other.

"Yeah I thought that I should try and reassure them I am okay as they had been evacuated by the military. I am not sure how much that I can tell you about what I am doing at the moment and I already have biological parents" replied Connor with a look of seriousness

"Well I can't help you with family issues as I never liked my dead mom and my dad is a criminal who is in prison for murder but you should find a way to keep them in your life because you are their son as well as being Angel's kid. I would kill to have two dads that love you this much" replied Faith

"Yeah you are right and Gunn has been destroyed" said Connor and he and the black man did not get along because of what happened with Holtz and then Jasmine having a huge influence over him which had made him betray those who had genuinely cared about him. He would never have wanted to see Gunn as a vampire and thinking about him made him think about Fred and Wesley who were dead according to Angel. Fred had been taken over by an Old One and she was one of those who had tried to take care of him while Angel was in a steel box under the ocean. While he did not know Wesley very well as he was no longer part of Angel's group when he had come back from Quor Toth. The older Englishman had been a good guy because he had fought against the Beast and Jasmine. He also thought about sitting by Faith's bedside when she was on the Orpheus drug trip to save his father.

"He was a good guy when he was a human while you acted the jerk when I knew you both back then. I guess that he would not have wanted a demon to run around in his body" responded Faith

"I am sorry about acting like a jerk back when we first met and I did not see why you wanted Angel alive back then but I understand much better now" said Connor apologetically and when he and Faith had got together. They did not really have in depth talks about their emotions and the past apart from explaining the memory wipe and the reasons for it. All

"Well that shit with Holtz and that Jazzy bitch taking over Cordy's body probably did not help much" replied Faith.

"That's right but the road of redemption is never closed for any of us" replied Connor and finally Faith closed her eyes and went to sleep and Connor watched over her and despite their age difference and the fact that Faith had been a murderer which probably would have freaked his adoptive family out. He felt that he could trust her with his dark secrets involving Jasmine. While any other normal girl would have run away screaming if he started to tell them the story of his past with vampire parents and having a goddess daughter who ate people. He finally fell asleep and Faith's snores filled the room.

######################

Following morning brought about new changes and Angelus and Darla were having a meeting with ghost Wesley in the safety of the mansion that they had commandeered.

"So, the Senior Partners want to thank you for destroying Gunn as he was proving to be a liability" said Wesley

"We did not do it for them and we have absorbed Gunn's gang and we plan to recruit more vampires to help us to wipe out the Slayers and the white hats" said Darla

"This is exactly what they had in mind for you guys and your reputations should carry some weight among the undead community although you might have to bang heads together" replied Wesley

"That should be no problem as I don't mind knocking some sense into these local cretins" commented Spike

"Well then you and Angelus should go to the local bars and start trying to recruit from there" suggested Wesley

"Ms Edith says that the local vampires will bow before Daddy, William and Grandmother" commented Drusilla suddenly

"Once Buffy and Faith are dead will your masters will arrange for us to go back to our world" said Darla coldly.

"Yes, that's right and you might be able to save your Master although I doubt it" replied Wesley coolly.

"We will see about that" said Darla with an icy smile.

Angelus looked annoyed about Darla's desire to save the Master but he was more interested in finishing the game with the white hats.

"If that wanker who calls himself the Master gets dusted the only thing that I am doing is putting a few flowers on his grave" commented Spike suddenly

"Really Spike and you will see how the Master deals with traitors if you keep talking like that" barked Darla and it often annoyed her at how Angelus and Spike would often disrespect the Master and his beliefs when without the older vampire turning her into a vampire. Both Liam and William would have lived unremarkable lives and then died she thought silently.

##########################################

"With Gunn being dead the local vampires in his gang would have turned to Angelus and his family as their new leaders" said Angel and he was going to state the obvious.

"Yes, because vamps often follow the strongest and at the moment both Angelus and soulless me along with Darla and Drusilla are the strongest and the oldest in this city" agreed Spike

"You know this is the first time that I have heard you and Spike agreeing on anything and it is kind of freaking me out" said Xander

"You are the not only one" commented Willow

"So what are Angelus and soulless Spike going to do?" asked Nina who was very new to all of this but was determined to earn her place in the team.

"Well to Angelus this is one big game and I think that for soulless Spike that he would want to directly attack us" replied Angel

"Yes, that's right mate and Angelus often bloody well talks his victims to death before killing them" commented Spike

"Soulless Spike would want to claim another Slayer as a hat trick, wouldn't he?" asked Buffy

"Yes, pet and I am not letting that man get anywhere near you" said Spike

"That's very good of you Spike for once but Buffy is not the only Slayer here" put in Giles and he did not like Spike very much at all.

"Giles is right and Buffy is not the only Slayer that the soulless version of Billy Idol can go for as he can also go for Faith or Kennedy and Fangboy Sr's psychotic version is even worse. These Senior Partners play their games from their proverbial high towers and they don't mind that innocent people die" commented Xander

Please read and review and thanks to Starway Man for his reviews and comments. Also for keeping me on focus to finishing this story.


	13. Chapter 13

Ties that Bind chapter 13

AN: I don't own the characters but I do own the plot.

It was late evening in L.A and most people were at home with their families. However, in one of the bars in the city, the vampires were enjoying themselves drinking beer or tormenting the humans kept in cages. The humans they captured were usually runaways, grabbed by demons, then sold to the bars that catered to the vampires.

The door suddenly opened and the vampires turned to see two men. One was a tall dark man and the other had bleach blonde hair.

"We're looking to recruit a few of you." Said the tall man, dressed in black.

"We don't work for traitors with souls!" Shouted one of the vampires, recognizing the man as the notorious vampire hunter.

"We are not those soul whipped creatures from this dimension and we are the real Angelus and my grandchilde William the Bloody also known as Spike" said the older of the two men

"Has the souls sent you boys nuts" barked one of the vampires looking incredulous

"Hey Drusilla is the insane one and not us" growled Angelus

"Don't talk that way about my black goddess mate when you are the one who made her mental" commented Spike.

One of the other vampires stepped forward and launched a punch at Angelus's head but he dodged and then retaliated with a right hook at his opponent sending him flying over the table.

"Nice punch." Commented Spike.

"Thanks, William. Watch your left." Angelus warned him.

Spike turned to see one of the vampires had drawn a knife, lunging towards him.

Using his century of experience fighting in brawls such as this one, Spike easily dodged the attack with a wild swing.

Spike launched an uppercut, cracking his opponent's jaw.

He then kicked him backwards into the mob of vampires, getting ready for the next attack.

Angelus picked up a pool stick that was dropped in the confusion, using it as a weapon by swinging it around.

It hit one unlucky vampire in the face, breaking his nose. While his opponent howled in agony, Angelus grinned sadistically, pulling out a stake to shove in the wounded vampire's heart.

"Ok lads, don't be shy, come all at once to old, Spike. Or come one at a time, it won't make a difference!" Spike shouted at the vampires, watching them backing away.

"Oh, come on, these traitors had souls just last week. They can't have changed that fast." Shouted a larger looking vampire, looking at the worried crowd.

Angelus smiled menacingly at the speaker, punching him in the head hard enough for the vampire to see stars.

"As I said before I am the real Angelus" growled Angelus at the crowd who looked terrified now.

"I know that our souled counterparts in this dimension are real wankers but if you fight for us you can destroy them and the Slayers. Then the vampires can rule this city" put in Spike

"Ok, after some careful consideration my friends and I have decided to join you." Said one of the vampires who could still walk as everyone else was moaning and groaning on the floor from their injuries.

Both Angelus and Spike left the bar and headed back to the house that they were now living at, where Wesley was waiting for them.

"How did it go?" asked Wesley

"It went fine. I think that we've persuaded some of the vampires from the bar that we visited to come and work for us." Said Angelus.

Two women entered the room and both Angelus and Spike had smirked at them.

"Ms. Edith says that Daddy and William had fun today" sang Drusilla

"Ms. Edith is bloody well right and it was fun smacking around the local morons" replied Spike

"That's good and your confrontation with the Slayers is coming so be ready" said Wesley before he vanished.

"I am looking forward to killing those Slayers" replied Angelus

"So am I lover" agreed Darla smiling sadistically

##################################################

Meanwhile back at the hotel Spike was wandering around. Buffy was with her friends in her room and he did not want to any spend time with Harris. He could hear someone was listening to music and looked into one of the rooms and saw Faith listening to music on her MP 3 Player and she was clad in tight denim jeans and a t shirt that left little to the imagination. If he was not so in love with Buffy, he would be definitely fighting the mini poof for this one he thought.

"Oy Faith" he yelled out and the startled brunette launched a left cross and there was the sound of the pained yelp.

"Oh my god Spike I am sorry for that" said Faith looking apologetic

"No worries luv and I have been hit by Slayers before you know" replied Spike

"Right and are you here for a reason?" asked Faith and she remembered the bleach blond vampire from Sunnydale and fighting against the First Evil.

"No reason pet and so where is mini poof at the moment" said Spike looking around the room curiously

"He is with his father and Nina catching up" replied Faith

"Right and he takes after Darla the most in looks and brains. The world does not need another copy of Captain Forehead because that would be a sure sign of the apocalypse" said Spike with a sardonic smile.

"Whatever Spike" said Faith dismissively and most of the time she could not understand what her sister Slayer Buffy saw in William the Bloody.

"So, what's it like having a toy boy pet? His Papa bear must be so proud that his son is following in his footsteps of being with a Slayer" replied Spike

"Well put it this way Connor is a demon in the sack but has a pulse and heartbeat. Unlike B these are the two features that I look for in a boyfriend" said Faith with a grin.

Spike smiled and then left the room. It seemed that Faith was attached to mini poof he thought and despite his father Angel being so concerned over the boy he had thought that Connor was no innocent when it came to sex because he was the son of Angel and Darla.

###########################################################################

Xander and Cordelia were sharing a few beers together in his room and for Xander it was good to spend time with Buffy and Willow because he had missed them a lot while he was in Africa.

"I am sorry to hear about Anya's death" said Cordelia

"While it had been painful to lose her during the fight with the First, I am glad that we got the chance to reconcile because I did love her at one point but I have moved on and the pain has subsided" replied Xander seriously.

"At least that you had a serious relationship with somebody and because of Jasmine manipulating me I let go the one person actually a half demon who did care about me and my relationship with Connor was profoundly disgusting" replied Cordelia

"Is Jasmine dead?" asked Xander and he felt a sense of deep outrage at the rogue power for manipulating someone that he cared deeply for.

"Yes, Connor killed her" replied Cordelia trying not to dwell on the horror of those memories.

"Good and I guess that Deadboy's son did one thing right" replied Xander

"Do you and Spike have to mock him like that" protested Cordelia

"Well I can't and won't speak for Spike and Deadboy is what's I normally call Angel and Connor is Angel's kid although I can't quite see the physical resemblance" said Xander

"Well he was almost a son to me as I changed his diapers and everything when he was a baby" replied Cordelia

"Was this before he got kidnapped by Wes and ended up in another dimension" asked Xander and he remembered some of Cordelia's stories about her time in Los Angeles working with Angel and Wesley.

"That's right and Holtz was insane by the time he got here" replied Cordelia frowning.

###############################################################

In the ruins of Wolfram and Hart's former office in Los Angeles in the middle of the night. Wesley was greeting a new guest.

"So has our branch in Rome explained the necessity for you to be here" said Wesley

"Yes, Ilona Bianchi gave me some information and I must say that the Senior Partners are playing with fire by bringing Angelus and William from another dimension" replied the man with long dark hair.

"There is nothing that anyone can do to change their minds once they are made up" replied Wesley with a frown.

"So, the Senior Partners want me to form the new Circle of the Black Thorn" said

"Yes, that's right Marius they do" said Wesley addressing the being by his true name and his other aliases included Marco and many others in his long life.

"I accept and will I have a chance to finish Signorina Summers" replied the Immortal

"Yes, and the Senior Partners want to thank you for distracting her during the time that you had with her but their belief is that your relationship with her is over. Now that Spike has entered the picture again" replied Wesley and he thought that the Immortal's handsome features had attracted many women easily such as Darla, Drusilla and Buffy to name a few.

"Well Buffy is not the first woman I had taken away from William and it would be good to see him and Angel again" replied the Immortal smiling gleefully.

"Also, the Senior Partners want you to be here just in case that Angelus and William attempt to double cross them" replied Wesley and the Senior Partners had filled him in on the Immortal's past and the fact that he had been a warrior since the times of Ancient Rome.

"Is that going to be an audition so that they can see if I am worthy of forming the new Circle" asked the Immortal looking suspicious.

"If you think that this is an audition then this is an audition" replied Wesley nonchalantly.

######################################################

The following morning saw Spike saw chugging blood out of his mug much to disgust of some like Cordelia while Xander and Angel was far too used to Spike's eating habits to care.

"Does he have to drink blood like that at least Angel drank his more politely" said Cordelia in a whisper.

"You get used to it and vampires don't normally make good housemates and the number of times that Spike would leave the towel on the floor when he was sharing an apartment with me" replied Xander

"I can hear you; droopy boy and it was no treat for me when we shared your apartment" said Spike

"I don't care if you can hear me Billy" replied Xander loudly

"Spike was always a messy eater even when were soulless" said Angel suddenly

"Now boys don't make me separate you" said a new voice belonging to a blonde woman.

"Buffy luv and, how are you?" asked Spike.

Xander rolled his eyes at Spike calling Buffy luv and it looked like that his best friend was falling under the charms of the British undead guy again and Cordelia sighed in disbelief. Then Connor and Faith walked down and much to the sharp eyes of Angel and Spike there was a love bite on Connor's neck. Spike grinned while Angel looked a little disturbed.

"Morning all" said Faith loudly

##########################################################################

Later that afternoon at Malibu Beach Buffy was sitting on a deck chair catching some sun rays.

Xander was helping to put on sunscreen for Cordelia who was lying on a towel. Buffy had thought that the romance between Xander and Cordelia had been over and buried with Sunnydale High but it seemed they were going to become a couple or had become a couple again. She was not going to interfere because she thought that Xander should have some happiness in his life after Anya's murder. Willow was sitting in the next chair reading a book with her sun hat on while Kennedy was sunbathing.

Connor and Faith were busy swimming in the ocean and racing against each other. His father and Spike were staying in doors because sun and them did not agree with each other. Also, Giles was invited on the beach trip but he had claimed he needed to catalogue Wesley's books and notes that had been located at the Hyperion or Angel had given him. Then Connor and Faith had come back after about thirty minutes of swimming around

"How was the water?" asked Willow to the couple.

"Nice and cold Red" commented Faith and she found a spare white towel and was wiping herself down with it before passing it onto her boyfriend who did the same.

"It's good to take some downtime as it reminds us what we are fighting to protect" said Xander seriously

"That's deep Xander" said Buffy and it was good for her to be with her old friends and to meet new people such as Angel's son she thought.

"I thought it was and Xander is right Buffy" agreed Willow

######################################################

Later that evening at least 15 vampires had turned up to the mansion where Angelus and his family were staying at.

"Thank you for being here and you will find that you have made the right choice in working for us" said Darla to the new arrivals.

"Will you give us a chance to play with the Slayers" asked one vampire

"Yes, you can play with them but don't kill them as that is our job" replied Angelus

"Any vampire who tries to take a bite out of Buffy or Faith will find out how creative Angelus is at torture and he has tortured vampires before" warned Darla

The local vampires shuddered in fear and Drusilla smiled insanely at them which made them even more worried.

"Come on mates and don't be so glum and there is the chance to kill the Watcher and the rest of the white hats" commented Spike with a smirk.

Please read and review and I would like to thank Starway Man for his kind reviews and suggestions


	14. Chapter 14

Ties that Bind chapter 14

AN: I don't own the characaters because they belong to Joss Whedon but I do own the plot.

#The ruins of Wolfram and Hart's office complex in Los Angeles late on a Wednesday night#

"You!" growled the alternate Spike at the guest that Wesley had asked him, Angelus, Darla and Drusilla.

"Not now Spike" sighed Wesley tiredly and it seemed that in the alternate dimension both Angelus and Spike hated the Immortal as much as his versions of Angel and Spike.

"Yes, William it's me and how is Drusilla?" asked the Immortal with a charming smile at the two vampire women.

"It's nice to see you Morty but why are you here?" questioned Darla quizzically. She remembered their past liaison in Rome with some fondness and the being had really made her scream in delight and seeing the look of jealously on Angelus's face had been absolutely delicious she thought.

"I am here because Wolfram and Hart wants me to provide backup against the Slayers" explained the Immortal

"Yeah you do that but if you try and make time with my dark goddess, we will find out just how Immortal you are! Smarmy bastard" growled Spike and Drusilla cast him an adoring look.

"That goes the same for me if you put your hands-on Darla like how you did in Rome" put in Angelus with a dangerous look on his face.

"Now Angelus you don't own me but I own you" snarled Darla

Angelus growled in anger at her words and Darla laughed evilly at seeing his rage glowing in his dark eyes.

"Enough all of you! We are not here because of sordid love triangles. The Senior Partners have invested in a lot of time in their plans for this world and they want you to be a part of it" rumbled Wesley

"I can support that and I am looking forward in dealing with Signorina Summers once and for all" said the Immortal smiling cheerily and her death would crush his rivals in this dimension Angel and Spike.

"Hold on she is mine" barked Angelus angrily.

"The Senior Partners want her and Faith to die and it does not matter whoever achieves it" said Wesley and he really did not want see Buffy or Faith dead at the hands of Angelus or the Immortal. He secretly hoped that the good guys could succeed against the deadliest gang of vampires from another dimension and a being who had been a soldier for 1,0000 years.

#############################################################

Buffy's room at their new operations base in the following morning

"Hello luv and everyone is downstairs having breakfast" said a welcome voice and Buffy turned to see a bleach blond man smiling at her. Both she and Spike had decided to focus on stopping the Whirlwind and whatever Wolfram and Hart decides to throw at the Slayers next. Then they going to make plans for the future.

"Ok Spike and I will be right down" replied Buffy and unlike Angel or Riley who had left her behind. Spike had never left apart from the time when he went to get his soul or when was toasted during the confrontation with the First Evil but had come back. It seemed that the Powers thought that both Angel and Spike should have the choice to make amends for their past evil she thought.

"See you pet and you better get there fast before all the muffins are eaten by Faith or the others" replied Spike

"I am glad that you were resurrected Spike I really am" said Buffy as Spike was leaving.

"I am glad to hear love and it was good to help the helpless in L.A and to beat up on Angel" replied Spike

"So, when you and Angel got into it was there oil involved?" asked Buffy with a teasing grin.

Spike chuckled as he remembered Buffy's comment about oil being involved when he complained to her about his Chairman of the Boring grandsire kissing her when they were fighting the First back in the day.

Buffy walked downstairs and smiled at Xander who was laughing with Cordelia. It was good to see one of her oldest friends being happy even in these times. Angel could be seen talking to Nina and Faith. She grabbed a blueberry muffin and made a coffee and then settled next to Spike.

########################################################################

At the bar in Los Angeles on Thursday evening

Spike and Drusilla walked in together with menacing looks and most of the local vampires looked a little terrified of them. Probably because their reputations were well known among the vampires.

"Spike! You must not flirt with that nasty blonde Slayer because the stars whisper that the other you are covered with the Slayer" mumbled Drusilla

"Dru you are my number one girl and I do not know what sodding drugs my counterpart was taking that made him fall in love with a Slayer" replied Spike seriously

"Blondie bear is that you?" asked a new voice

"Who the hell are you" barked Spike seeing a female blonde vampire approaching them.

"It's me Harmony and why are you with Dorkus and not Buffy" asked Harmony a little confused at seeing Spike and his lunatic ex together

"Don't call my goddess that and I have never met you in my life" growled Spike

"Hello we had a relationship and don't you remember that Spikey?" growled Harmony

"Wicked girl wants my Spike but he only wants me" commented Drusilla and she stepped closer to the blonde vampire with a threatening look.

"Why are you getting in my personal space Dorkus and I thought that you dumped Spike and how are you guys back together when he has a soul?" asked Harmony and Drusilla did not respond but grabbed a pool cue and shoved through Harmony's heart and she turned to dust.

"That's better ducks and I had no idea what the stupid bint was going on about and I guess that she knew the wanker that wears my face in this dimension" said Spike

"Mean, dead girl calling me horrid names and I punished her alright" replied Drusilla with a satisfied look

They then sat at the bar and ordered two cups of fresh human blood and sat reminiscing about the good old days. While Drusilla had no interest in going over the past there were some days that they both treasured such as when Spike killed that Chinese Slayer while Angelus and Darla tortured her Watcher to death. Or when they hunted Nikki Woods down and Spike broke her neck and took her coat. Eventually Spike and Drusilla finished their cups of blood and walked out and headed back to the mansion that they had shared with Angelus and Darla.

"Where have you two been" asked Darla curiously

"Just out Darla and that's all" replied Spike

"I hope that you are putting Drusilla into any danger William" growled Angelus

"Now look mate it is bad enough that I have to make sure that the Immortal ponce is not trying to make time with Drusilla and I don't need you trying to act as her protector" roared Spike

"I am not your mate Spike and when will that sink into your thick skull?" asked Angelus

"I think that it is going to take another century for Spike to learn some respect for his elders" commented Darla

" I am a rebel like James Dean or Sid Vicious so why should I follow the rules that you have laid down" replied Spike smiling coolly.

"Let's see if you can survive confrontation with Buffy or Faith and with any luck, they will dust you. I can find a new plaything for Drusilla" said Angelus with a menacing expression on his face.

"Really mate and what if Faith or Buffy dusts you will Darla mourn over you or will she go with the Immortal or back to that senile wanker who created her" remarked Spike sardonically.

Darla backhanded him across the face and Angelus smirked nastily at him. Spike had been sent flying and only Drusilla helped him up.

##############################################################

In the basement of the operations centre Thursday evening

The good guys were having a party and someone had put on loud music. Some such as Giles or Angel were concerned by the lull in activities and it was if Wolfram and Hart or the alternate Whirlwind were up to something big, they thought.

Angel was trying to dance with Nina but doing very badly and Nina often winced as he trod on her feet. It was she who had talked Angel into joining the party and it had taken some doing she thought.

"Hey Peaches are you trying to dance or did Willow give you a magical itch in your pants" called out Spike laughing and he was just about managing the dance with Buffy.

"How about you William? Remember that time in Cologne when you kept on treading on Drusilla's feet when you guys were doing the waltz" replied Angel mockingly

"Enough! The pair of you are competitive idiots when it comes to each other" growled Buffy

"Men! They always have to outdo each other" commented Nina with a sigh of annoyance.

"Nina, I thought that you are on my side" commented Angel.

"I always am babe apart from the times that you act the idiot" replied Nina lovingly but seriously.

Both Nina and Buffy would often have exasperated but affectionate looks when Spike and Angel would often snark at each other. While everyone else was often annoyed by the snarking and once they had asked everyone if cavemen and astronauts got into fight who would win? Xander had reckoned it was the astronauts if they had ray guns while Giles sighed in disbelief at hearing the question. In contrast Buffy had said it was cavemen remembering her own experience with enchanted beer in college.

Meanwhile nearby Connor and Faith were doing quite well during the fast dances and Faith had ground her leather clad hips against Connor's groin.

"Oh, hell they should not be doing that in public" growled Angel seeing the young couple dirty dancing with each other

"Oh, come on it's not that bad and I have seen those kinds of moves before in dance clubs in Los Angeles" replied Nina

"Or in Rome" agreed Buffy

"Thanks Nina and Buffy. Lighten up Dad" said Connor as he danced with Faith

"Yeah big guy and it's all in good fun" put in Faith laughing.

"Dancing are waltzes, ballet and not what you guys are doing" said Angel seriously to Connor and Faith.

"Hello twentieth first century calling Angel and are you receiving me?" asked Nina with an amused smile. Buffy laughed in merriment at the comment.

"Your boy is no innocent Angel as he comes from you and the ice queen and Faith is Faith. we know what good company Slayers can be" put in Spike with an amused look as he saw Connor and Faith dance together.

Buffy and Spike continued dancing without any more interruptions.

"I saw you dance around with that Immortal ponce" grumbled Spike remembering when he saw the love of his life and that bastard dancing around in that club in Rome.

"You should have called me and I would have been there in L.A" replied Buffy with a frown.

Xander and Cordelia were also dancing together and he was holding her by the hips as they moved with the music. She had a grin on her face when she was dancing with her first love.

However, there was someone who walked through the wall and was watching them with an serious expression

"How dare you look like my former Watcher!" snarled Faith at seeing him

Connor looked concerned at seeing Faith getting angry and also his concern deepened when he saw Wesley.

"It's me Faith and it's good to see you" replied the man

"Wes is that you?" asked Xander

"It can't be Percy as he is dead because Vail killed him" put in Spike

"It is him Spike as the man has Wesley's scent" commented Angel.

Xander had turned off the music.

"Angel is correct and I am Wesley Wyndam Pryce and it is good to see most of you" said Wesley

"Why are you here?" asked Buffy

"To talk to you all" replied Wesley

Thanks to Starway Man for his reviews and comments. Please remember to read and review.


	15. Chapter 15

Ties that Bind chapter 15

AN: I only own the plot and any OC's in the story and everything else belongs to Joss Whedon.

#At the basement of the good guy's operation base#

"How are you alive Wes when Illyria said that you died taking on the Circle of the Black Thorn" demanded Angel suspiciously

"Well Wolfram and Hart repossessed me and being dead does not let me out of my contract. Do you remember Lilah?" replied Wesley

Angel had his usual brooding look and sighed remembering the brunette lawyer who had once caused him so much trouble but who had a relationship with Wesley.

"Is this really Wesley?" interjected Connor and the man's scent was familiar but he was not really sure if his dad's old friend had really come back and for what purpose.

"Yes, junior it is and he has his scent and my nose does not lie" commented Spike after sniffing Wesley with his vampire senses.

"If you are really Wesley and you are working for Wolfram and Hart why should we listen to anything that you have to say" demanded Buffy

"I know that you and your Scooby Gang have never really trusted me since Sunnydale but I am here for a good reason" replied Wesley

"Oh, come on you were a buffoon when we knew you then" said Buffy incredulously

"Wesley has changed since then Buffy and he deserved the title of champion" exclaimed Cordelia defending her old friend.

"Yes, thank you Cordelia and I am now the new liaison for the Senior Partners and they have sent me to invite you all to a confrontation with their forces which are Angelus and his family and their vampire minions. They also have the Immortal on their side" explained Wesley

"Who or what is the Immortal? He sounds like something from the tv show Highlander" asked Connor interested.

In contrast Buffy looked shocked and then angry that her boyfriend was working for Wolfram and Hart. While she never loved the Italian man like how she had loved Angel and then Spike. But she had cared for him and he was there for her when she thought that the English vampire was gone for good.

"Great tv show" agreed Xander having watched a few seasons in Sunnydale.

"Absolutely and I have seen a few seasons mate" said Spike

Angel looked confused because he does not normally watch tv and was puzzled by what his son, Xander and Spike were talking about.

"The Immortal is an old rival of mine and Spike's and he was an absolute ass because he was doing Darla and Drusilla when we knew him" said Angel

Connor looked disgusted at hearing this and while he knew from Holtz that Darla had been an evil demon who had only cared for herself, he did not want to hear about his mother having sex with other beings.

"Absolutely mate and the Immortal is the foulest evil that hell spat out of" agreed Spike and he still had a few scores to settle with the Immortal.

"Ok and how do we kill him?" asked Faith

"He has a jewel inserted into his spine which was a gift from the Senior Partners and if you smash that then he will die for good" commented Cordelia

"How did you know that?" asked Buffy a little suspicious

"Well Buffy the Powers also want the Immortal to be destroyed because he has been working for the Wolf, Ram and Hart for a very long time. By the way what is it with you and guys who may or may not be evil?" replied Cordelia sardonically

Buffy glared at her former classmate because she did not want her love life with the Immortal to be discussed in front of her first love, friends and the man who she had come to love despite their love/hate relationship in Sunnydale.

"Yes, I heard that the Immortal has his own agenda but we were never sure what it was" agreed Giles and he had tried to caution Buffy about engaging in a relationship with that being but his surrogate daughter was known to be headstrong when it came to her boyfriends.

"Well now you know Giles" replied Cordelia wisely

"Where will this confrontation take place?" asked Buffy changing the subject suddenly.

"In the ruins of the old Wolfram and Hart office Angel should know where it is along with Spike and the Senior Partners are expecting that only Angel, Spike and Connor will go to take on their forces because they think that they want to save you all from the likes of Angelus, William the Bloody and it will happen tomorrow evening" replied Wesley

"Those Senior Partners assholes can expect all they like but I am still going to support Angel and my guy" declared Faith holding Connor's hand.

"If Faith is going then I am going and I want to finish this once and for all" said Buffy not wanting to be overshadowed by the brunette Slayer who had been her rival. She had also wanted to be there for Spike.

"Good to have you on the team B" replied Faith with a genuine smile.

"Is there anyone else or are you all afraid?" questioned Wesley at the others

"I am going to support Angel and Connor" said Cordelia with determination

"If Cordy and Buffy is going to take on the forces of evil then I am going" said Xander

Finally, everyone else declared that they wanted to go.

"Good very good and the Senior Partners won't expect this" said Wesley

"If you are the liaison for the Senior Partners why are you helping us" questioned Giles at his fellow Englishman

"The Senior Partners want to make sure that their confrontation goes their way and will try and manifest themselves onto our plane of reality. If they do it means that they can be killed and if they are killed then I am released from the contract" replied Wesley

"What we should do is take time off this evening and tomorrow and everyone should train, pray or goof off" commented Angel

"I concur" said Giles

Wesley had disappeared with a smile and the others went to their rooms.

###########################################

Buffy's room

Buffy paced in her room and she was thinking of the upcoming confrontation and having to take on her former boyfriend from Rome was not sitting well with her but at least she did not have to break up with him by phone or going back to Rome.

"Hey pet and don't worry about tomorrow" said Spike

"I am not worried" replied Buffy trying to put a brave face on.

"Really then why are you pacing around the room" questioned Spike

"We are going up against soulless you, Angelus, Darla and Drusilla along with the Immortal who clearly knows how to fight" replied Buffy

"We have been up against odds like this before such as the time when the First tried to wipe out the Slayer line "said Spike

"You died then to stop the First's army so that is not a good example" retorted Buffy

"But I came back Goldilocks and I will always come back for you" said Spike seriously

"Don't make promises like that William when we don't know what tomorrow may bring" commented Buffy seriously.

"You are right Buffy but whatever happens tomorrow I always will love you and will return to you even from hell" replied Spike.

They sat on her bed and they had the arms embracing each other and Buffy put her head on Spike's shoulder. She had made a mental note to call Dawn tomorrow and leave her sister a message to remind her that she loved her and if things went well both she and Spike would be visiting her and Andrew in London.

Spike's sensitive hearing caught the sounds of rhythmic thumping in the next room and as well as Faith's triumphant giggles. He laughed in merriment

"What was so funny?" asked Buffy

"It looks like mini Poof and Faith have the right idea what to do on the last night pet" replied Spike

"Ewww" replied Buffy making a face and she got what Spike was getting at. She did not want to have any mental images of Faith having sex with Connor because hearing about the brunette Slayer doing it with Robin Wood in her bed was bad enough not to mention the body swap back in the day which had felt like a lifetime in her opinion.

#######################################################

Xander and Cordelia's room

Xander and Cordelia are kissing on the bed wildly and desperately

"Are you sure this is what you want" questioned Xander while taking a breath

"Just kiss me and if this is our last night on earth or not, I want it to be with you" replied Cordelia now pulling at his shirt.

"Yes, I know what you mean and I am glad that you are here" said Xander and they continued to kiss and caress each other under the covers.

####################################################################

Angel and Nina's room late at night.

The dark-haired vampire and his werewolf girlfriend were in a post coital sleep and there were scratches on Angel's back where Nina had scratched him during sex. He had awoken and thought about the upcoming confrontation against his alternate soulless self, William the Bloody, Darla and Drusilla and now the Immortal. He was determined that if the Senior Partners did manifest then he would try and kill them even if it meant giving his life for the sake of the world because Spike would be there to help to protect the world without him including Buffy.

"Go back to sleep Angel and think about the confrontation tomorrow" croaked Nina sleepily

#####################################################################

At the Wolfram and Hart's ruins

Wesley faced the group of vampires and the Immortal

"The confrontation starts tomorrow and the good guys will only be sending their strongest fighters to confront you because the likes of Angel and Spike do not want to risk Buffy or Faith" said Wesley

"Really? It does not sound like Buffy to wait behind in a safe place while William or Angel fights for her" commented the Immortal suspiciously

"It is not her idea or Faith's but the Head Watcher Rupert Giles because he wants our forces to be weakened by Angel, Spike and Connor before committing the Slayers "replied Wesley

"This just like taking candy from a baby as we have our vampire forces ready to go" said Darla gleefully

"How many vampires do you have Darla?" asked Wesley

"About 15 at the most and a couple of them show an excellent tendency towards violence" replied Darla

"We will tear apart the souled versions of the Poof and I along with the supposed Miracle Child and then destroy the Slayers" said Spike looking as if Christmas had come early.

"Ms Edith and the Moon tells me that baby brother deserves a good spanking" commented Drusilla

"Yes, he will get that spanking from me as a good father disciplines his children and this Giles sounds like a typical Watcher" said Angelus with a sadistic look on his face.

"Actually I would like to speak to this son of mine and inform him that he has been a disappointment to me" commented Darla

###########################################

Following morning at 7 am in Connor and Faith's room

Connor awoke when the sunlight was shining through the window of their room. he saw that Faith was still sound asleep laying on her back looking relaxed and comfortable. He then stroked her toned, hard abs with his finger. Faith mumbled in her sleep but then opened her brown eyes and regarded him with an affectionate look.

"Morning sexy" said Faith and she definitely had the time of her life last night and vivid memories and images came to the forefront.

"Morning babe and did you sleep well?" asked Connor

"Very well thanks and If you go with your father and Spike to take on the bad guys you are not talking me out of joining you" said Faith seriously

"Don't worry I know when not to argue with you and this is one of those times" replied Connor and they kissed passionately.

Please read and review and thanks to Starway Man for his reviews and suggestions.


	16. Chapter 16

Ties that Bind chapter 16

#Xander and Cordelia's room at 7:30 am #

The dark-haired man lay in bed feeling troubled because he had great sex with his former high school sweetheart but despite getting close during the past few weeks, they had not resolved the issues between them such as what he had felt for his deceased ex Anya who had nearly married. Xander hoped that he could start again with someone he still had strong feelings for spending time with Cordelia made him remember what they once meant to each other but Cordelia had changed for the better since her high school days.

The woman in question was currently lying on her back but with the same troubled thoughts on her mind because she wanted to know if there was a chance to build something real between her and Xander or was he still in love with Anya.

"Cordy are you ok?" asked Xander

'Yes, I am ok and that was some night" replied Cordelia after she had opened her eyes and regarded Xander.

"Should we talk about last night because we had sex because we thought that it was the last day before taking on the forces of evil" asked Xander

"Yes we should and I want to know if there is a chance to build something real between us or do you still have strong feelings for Anya? I am warning you that I won't compete with a ghost" said Cordelia

"I always remember Anya and our relationship together with some fondness but she is dead and I need to move on from her and spending time with you has made me fall for the strong woman that you became in L.A while working with Dead Boy. Although I should have been there to help when you got possessed by Jasmine" replied Xander seriously

Cordelia felt her heart lift at his words and not for the first-time cursed Jasmine for manipulating her to leave Sunnydale instead of getting together with Xander again. But on the other hand, she developed strong friendships with Wesley, Gunn, Fred who along with Angel had become her family.

"That's good and if we live through this why don't we go on a road trip around the world afterwards" replied Cordelia

"Wow direct aren't you just like the Cordelia I remember from High School" said Xander fondly.

"I am sorry that I bullied and teased you and Willow in High school and I guess that I was jealous while you both had a genuine friendship with Buffy while I had my Cordettes who weren't not my friends not really" remarked Cordelia apologetically.

"it's alright as you are no longer that Cordelia but someone who had matured like the rest of us and that's a yes to the road trip as long as we still help to fight evil if we find it" said Xander

"Of course, and I still want to assist the new Slayers because Buffy is not much of a leader after the stories that you told me about fighting the First in our home town" replied Cordelia

"Well she did her best and I don't think that she was ready to run an army of teenage girls at the time" defended Xander about one of his oldest friends.

Feeling much better they both got out of bed and Cordelia used the shower while Xander smiled to himself.

###########################################

Angel and Nina's room about 8 am

"Are you evil?" asked Nina sleepily and she and her vampire boyfriend were lying in bed.

"No, I am not" replied Angel

"While a part of me is a little jealous that I can't activate your curse by perfect happiness. A larger part is glad that your evil self can't get out" said Nina honestly

"Wesley said that perfect happiness only happens rarely and most people have to deal with acceptable happiness and this is what I have with you" commented Angel seriously. The brooding vampire had a pang of guilt at the mention of Wesley the man who had given his life for their mission but was now a ghost serving Wolfram and Hart.

"That's true and I would not describe my relationships with any of my exes as perfect happiness and I am sorry about Wes because he is a good man when I knew him" replied Nina

"If things go side ways I want you to get out of the city and hide. I have some money hidden away so you can use that for you and your family" said a serious looking Angel

"No! I would not run away and you are not doing this to me again. If things do go badly then I am not leaving you and that's final!" growled Nina

"I just want you to be safe" said Angel

"That means nothing if you are not safe too and would you run and abandon everyone if things go badly" replied Nina seriously.

"No but I need to make up for the past" said Angel

"The crimes are on Angelus's hands not yours and besides you were not even in your body when he was terrorizing Europe" pointed out Nina

"Angelus's hands are my hands and if I fall in destroying the Senior Partners then Spike can be the new champion" said Angel with a brooding but a determined expression

"I am not in love with Spike and you deserve a shot at redemption like everyone else as you the best man that I ever met. Stop talking nonsense before I slap you around the head" ordered Nina

Angel stopped talking seeing the look on her pretty blonde face. They had a shower together and Nina soaped his body and then they washed each other.

Afternoon about 3pm under the ruins of Wolfram and Hart

Wesley was communing again with his superiors

"Did you invite the good guys to the upcoming confrontation" said the voice of the Wolf

"Yes, I did and it seems that Giles wants to send out Angel, Spike and Connor to weaken the vampire army before committing his Slayers" replied Wesley

"That's good and if on the off chance that things don't go our way then we will use this chance when the violence is at its greatest to manifest in order to take out the vampire who had been our greatest foe" said the Ram

"Angel won't last five minutes in a confrontation with you beings" said Wesley

"Does that grieve you Wesley knowing that the vampire with a soul is doomed either to fall at the hands of Angelus or at the hands of us" snickered the Hart

"No it does not because Angel and his son made us sign that deal with Wolfram and Hart which led to Fred's death" said Wesley partially lying and using some of the truth helped to sell the deception he thought.

"Good and inform the vampires that when evening comes, they are to prepare their forces" ordered the Wolf and they disappeared from view. Wesley smiled to himself.

About 6pm outside the base

###################################

Spike watched with some amusement as Connor and Faith were saying a non-verbal good bye with tongues. Angel and Xander both looked disgusted by the passionate kiss shared by the young couple.

"Come on we don't have all night for you to kiss" called Angel and the two vampires and Connor walked towards the ruins of Wolfram and Hart. The plan was for them to show up and the Slayers and others will come in later which would surprise Wolfram and Hart and their allies. Angel drove his Plymouth car with Connor in the passenger seat and Spike in the back towards the ruins of Wolfram and Hart.

As they got closer to their destination, they had noticed that local vampires were watching them. They got out and walked through the ruins of the old building.

"Look at this place Peaches it looks like that they had levelled the office to the ground" commented Spike surprised at the level of devastation.

"When we took out the Circle of the Black Thorn we did half of the job now with the help of Buffy and Faith and other Slayers we can finish the job" replied Angel

"I stopped that guy from staking Dad then during that fight" pointed out Connor

"Well who is going to save you idiots now?" asked a new voice and Angel saw his face looking at him with a sadistic smirk. It disturbed a little to see Angelus even one from an alternate reality in the real world.

"Where is the ice queen?" asked Spike looking around to see if Angelus had brought reinforcements

"Why Spike do you want to fight her rather than me?" asked Angelus

"No, I want to see the look on her face when I kill you" growled Spike

"You couldn't take me anyway even if I had one hand tied behind my back" sneered Angelus

"We will see and I was planning on bringing Buffy your ashes as a gift" said Spike

"Promises, Promises don't make them if you can't keep them" sang Angelus and Connor glared at him remembering those words from when he saw the mainstream Angelus in a cage in a previous life.

"Actually, Spike Angelus is mine as while I can't quite smack the crap out of my evil counterpart he will do" commented Angel

But Angelus smirked and then whistled and at least five vampires stood behind him and then his Spike joined him.

"So, the idiots are here" commented soulless Spike

"That's right Willie and thanks for stating the obvious" replied Angelus sardonically

"It's Spike now and how many times do I have to tell you mate" growled Spike angrily

"That sounds familiar to me" said Angel

"Do you morons know that you have been betrayed by the Council as they want you to weaken our forces and then die or be dusted" jeered Angelus

"No, the Slayers are coming and it's you who has been played by Wolfram and Hart and us" retorted Angel.

The fight was on and Angel was busy involved in the melee against the local vampires and then he used a spin kick driving his foot into the gut of a female vampire and she shrieked in agony while Connor and Spike worked together against Angelus. The older vampire was having a challenge as both Connor and the bleach blonde vampire were experienced fighters.

Meanwhile soulless Spike was watching the carnage with a satisfied look on his face and if Angelus was dusted then he and Drusilla could get away from Darla and the Master and start working on their own. He could always tell Drusilla and Darla that a Slayer or Angel got their precious Angelus. The thought made him smile before he glared at his souled counterpart. He then quickly threw a punch at his souled self who avoided his punch and responded with a left cross at his face. He wanted to destroy this abomination wearing his face that was making a mockery of his reputation as William the Bloody the killer of two Slayers by falling in love with a Slayer and helping people rather than eating them.

"When you are dust, I think that I should send Buffy to join you even though it is a bloody crime to tear her apart because of her beauty" said soulless Spike

"Now, now no funny business with the Slayer or I will have your guts for garters" said Drusilla with a pout.

"She will be dead soon enough and we will dance on the Slayer's grave" replied Spike smiling at his beloved goddess.

"That's alright then" said Drusilla with a smile. She charged at Connor who was currently avoiding a punch from Angelus and then Angel kicked Angelus in the chest and then Connor guarded his back by dusting a vampire who was sneaking up on him.

15 mins later

##########################################

"They are still fighting" said Kennedy pointing to the battle as the Slayers and others like Xander and Cordelia got close to the ruins of the L.A office.

"Then that's let us help them then" said a determined looking Buffy

"I got your back B" agreed Faith

"Besides when we have finished saving the world then we go out to have Starbucks" said Xander

"Or the mall because I want to check out if Dolce and Gabbana has a new sale" said Cordelia

"I could get behind that" said Buffy and then they charged in surprising the vampires who were not expecting them as their bosses had mentioned that they were only going three fighters from the forces of the light.

"Faith is that you?" called out Connor

"How are you doing stud" asked Faith

"Oh I got about three vampires already" replied Connor gleefully

"Not bad babe" replied Faith

Buffy was busy looking for Spike in all this chaos and they were finally reunited

"Good to see ya pet" said Spike

"How is it going" asked Buffy checking to see if Spike was alright

"Not bad and I got to punch Angelus which was the highlight of the week" replied Spike

"Well I am here to help you smack him around" said Buffy and she used a spin kick on Angelus and he cursed in pain.

Thanks to Starway Man for his latest reviews and please remember to read and review. Thanks to those who have added this story to story alerts


	17. Chapter 17

Ties that Bind chapter 17

"So the white hats have arrived and are attacking us Morty" said Darla and she could clearly hear the commotion from outside.

"Yes, and your Angelus and Spike have gone out to confront those cretins and I am going there and it would be good to cut Buffy's throat because I won't lose her to a ruffian like William" replied the Immortal

"While Angelus is my creation but I could not care less what happens to William the Bloody. What is with Buffy Summers of this dimension? I could understand Spike getting so obsessed with Slayers that he wanted to have sex with them but the fact that Angelus or you got all hot and bothered by her in this dimension makes no sense to me" replied Darla with a hint of jealously in her voice.

"Careful Darla it sounds like that you are jealous of her" commented the Immortal and then he drew his sword and it looked sharp but ornate

"Nice sword" replied Darla appreciatively.

"Thanks, and it was a gift from Julius Caesar because I was one of his legionaries before the Wolf, Ram and Hart made me an offer that I could not refuse" said the Immortal with a smile.

"So, if you were cut down the Spikes if things don't go our way, I would be most grateful" offered Darla

"How grateful?" questioned the Immortal

"Remember our assignation in Rome about 1893" smirked Darla

'That was a hot memory" said the Immortal and the two charged into the fray.

##################################################

The battle raged on and vampires were dusted and Buffy could see Angel, Xander and Cordelia working together while Faith and Connor were fighting back to back against three other vampires.

"Don't zone out now Slayer" said her Spike and then she faced the alternate Angelus.

"Finally, our long-awaited confrontation has arrived Buff" said Angelus

"I sent you to hell in this world and I can do it again" threatened Buffy

"That was an Angelus who had been driven nuts by having a soul but you are facing me and unlike my counterpart I am not obsessed with you. I just want to show you what a real vampire can do" replied Angelus with a sadistic smile on his face.

"I think that you are forgetting mate that she is not alone because she has me" said souled Spike

"Well Billy you must worship Angel because everything he has done you have copied but no matter once the Slayer is gravy then I can sort you out" replied Angelus.

Both Buffy and Spike attacked Angelus with a fury and for Spike it was venting his frustration for the times that Angelus has sex with Drusilla or made him a monster while Buffy still had bad feelings for the fact the Angelus in her dimension had killed her favourite teacher and tortured Giles and had also killed Willow's fish and could now vent without hurting Angel.

Angelus then ducked a punch from Spike and then kicked out catching him in the stomach. Buffy then hit him with a roundhouse punch in the chest and he ducked her next swing and hit her with a right cross to the face.

"You know how do you feel about eternal life Buff? I can make you into one of us and then we can kill the Immortal together" offered Angelus

"I would rather be with Spike then be with you and besides being a vampire would prevent me from going to the beach or looking after my skin" sneered Buffy and Angelus growled in anger.

"Thanks Buffy and shall we destroy him together" said Spike and he hit Angelus in the face with a left hook and he and Buffy proved to be a well-oiled team because they had fought together in Sunnydale. Angelus was soon put on the defensive

"Dru give me a hand" yelled Angelus and Drusilla charged over from her spot and squared up to Spike

#############################################################

"Spike is a bad boy by trying to kill Daddy" said Drusilla

"it is always about the Daddy whether in this dimension or in your one" growled Spike at the alternate version of his sire and ex.

"Well yes and Ms. Edith said you are covered by the nasty Slayer while Daddy isn't" replied Drusilla with a pout. She then scratched Spike on the cheek.

"Ouch you are a crazy bint" cursed Spike

"You need a spanking little dumpling and maybe that will drive thoughts of Slayer out of your head" said Drusilla with an insane smile.

'Well come to Daddy" said Spike and they circled each other before Drusilla jumped on him.

Spike fought back and hit her twice in the stomach before activating the wrist mounted stake and then lunging with them and Drusilla turned to dust.

"Goodbye Dru" mumbled Spike and he had mixed feelings about the whole thing as the insane vampire had been his sire and they killed together but now he was no longer that William the Bloody.

"It looks like Drusilla is dust" said Buffy to Angelus in between punches

"Oh well while she was my greatest creation, I can easily make another and maybe I will start with you" replied Angelus sneeringly.

"I am not that easy to break unlike her" warned Buffy and she kicked out catching him in the face and Angelus had been one of her hardest opponents she had to face because once she was in love with Angel.

"We will see kitten" said Angelus and he continued on fighting and finally Buffy began to get the upper hand and had staked Angelus and he turned to dust.

"Are you alright Buffy" questioned Spike seeing that part of her face was bruised from where Angelus had hit her.

"Yes I should be fine and good work on dusting Drusilla" said

##################################################

"Well Dead boy it's a fine mess that you made of Los Angeles" said Xander as he ducked a punch from a vampire in a t-shirt and jeans.

"Well Xander I am doing my best to rectify matters" replied Angel with an annoyed expression

"I hope that you and Nina get a chance to be reasonably happy after all this but not too happy because then Buffy and I would have to stake you." said Xander seriously

"Thanks, I think" said Angel and he staked several of his undead brethren.

"Putting personal issues aside for the duration and maybe forever we still have a war to win" said Cordelia and she had scored several more vampires by using the lessons that she had learned from Angel.

"Anyone seen my son" called out Angel

"I think that he was with Faith" said Xander

"Good" replied Angel and he could now see his son holding his own with Faith's help against an alternate Spike.

#########################################################

"I am going to rip in you in half maggot and maybe that make Peaches even more of a brooding bastard" growled the alternate Spike

"You wish and were you trying to copy Billy Idol with your look or something" said Connor with a sarcastic smile.

"Actually, Billy Idol got the look from me" replied Spike

"Well you look ridiculous as punk has been over since the seventies" commented Connor

"Good one stud" praised Faith and she kicked alternate Spike in the chest before he lashed out with a right hook aimed at her face but she blocked it with her elbow.

Spike had seen his Drusilla being dusted by the souled wanker wearing his face and was determined to take out the white hats in revenge for his black goddess.

Connor punched Spike in the face and he vamped out.

"I am going to be better than Angelus when I take out my third Slayer" boasted Spike

"You couldn't kill B in this dimension what makes you think that I can kill me" replied Faith and she kicked him in the stomach. Finally, Connor and Faith managed to overwhelm him and Faith dusted him with one lunge to the chest.

"The fight got my juices flowing" said Faith

"Well if you can wait until the end of the fight then we will see what we can do about that" replied Connor with a grin.

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"What is happening Liaison when you had promised this would go well" growled the Wolf

"I am not sure my master" replied Wesley

"Well so far we have lost Angelus, Drusilla and Spike" snarled the Ram

"Yes, but we still have the Immortal and Darla and 5 vampires" protested Wesley

"We will manifest to destroy Angel and those cretins" said the Hart

"Is that wise my Lord" asked Wesley hiding a smile.

"Yes, and the vampire with a soul had cost us more than enough in time, monet and resources" growled the Wolf

"If you say so master but we must not count out Angel because there have been times when we got to our lowest point then he will pull out some trick and defeat the enemy" cautioned Wesley

"He has never been up against us before and then we will will tear the Slayer Queen to shreds" said the Ram

Darla charged at Buffy the murderer of her Angelus and they were in a cat fight with punches and both blondes attempted to pull hair and had left scratch marks on faces.

"I am going to send you to join Angelus" threatened Buffy

"You will bleed and then die Slayer" growled Darla now truly enraged.

"Did you know that Angelus was going to turn me into a vampire and maybe I would have replaced you so why are you trying to get revenge for someone like that" questioned Buffy

"Well personally it is a good thing that you had dispatched Angelus because he would be a liability to the Wolf, Ram and Hart because no one can control his lust for destruction" said the Immortal and he tried to attack her with a sword.

"Kill her Morty" said Darla gleefully

"You know when I was in bed with you, I was thinking of Spike" said Buffy cruelly at her Italian lover.

"You and that thug deserve each other because you are both blonde, impulsive and violent" replied the Immortal with an evil look. He attacked her and they were in a vicious struggle and the Immortal had scored several wounds on her arm while Buffy had broken his nose with a well-aimed hook and it was spurting out blood.

"Help me Darla because she has broken my nose" said the Immortal thickly

Darla then smiled to herself and then she stabbed the Immortal in the spine and it was like watching a film of someone ageing all at once before turning into a skeleton.

"Why did you do that?" asked Buffy in shock to the blonde vampire

"No one can have you but me Slayer and I had wanted the Immortal to soften you up before making my move" explained Darla

"Well I have defeated the Master and the occasional gods and sent Angelus sent to hell so what makes you think that you can" snarled Buffy

"I am older than Angelus or Spike and you never beaten me in a fight in this dimension" commented Darla

"Well Angel no longer wants you because he is with someone else and your son Connor is embarrassed by you" sneered Buffy

"Yes, well once I get the Senior Partners to remove Angel's soul then we can sort out our ungrateful offspring" replied Darla

"Well I have more than one thing to say about that" said Buffy now worried by Angelus of her dimension being unleashed by Darla and the Senior Partners. She hit the older vampire in the face and then followed up with a kick and Darla cursed in pain.

"Ouch and you are really pissing me off blondie" said Darla

"The feeling is mutual queen of the dammed" replied Buffy sardonically and she followed up with a roundhouse kick and then she finally lunged with a stake and dusted Darla. She then took a few deep breaths and her Slayer healing had kicked in and most of the wounds from the Immortal were closing and she was feeling better.

"Hey B you dusted Darla and that is a good job girl" praised Faith

"I know we have must have won this round and the alternate Whirlwind is gone" said Buffy

"Don't count out the Senior Partners just yet" cautioned Angel

"Don't be a negative Nancy Peaches and Slayer is right because we have won" said Spike

"Angel is right and it would not make sense for the Senior Partners to let us walk away" said Cordelia

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There was a rushing noise and a portal had opened and three beings had stepped through.

"Hello vampires with souls and Slayers prepare to meet your doom" boomed the monsters

"What the hell are you?" asked Spike

"We are the Senior Partners William the Bloody and you and Angelus have given us more than enough troubles" replied the Senior Partners in unison

Please read and review and thanks to Starway Man for his kind reviews and advice.


	18. Chapter 18

Ties that Bind chapter 18

"You could have been our greatest ally Angel so why do you keep fighting us" boomed the Ram

"You wanted my soul and that is not for sale" retorted Angel as they battled and a part of Angel was looking forward to this clash with the beings who wanted him dark and, on their side, and they got their minions to raise Darla which led to him having Connor for a son which started a chain of events that led to him becoming CEO of Wolfram and Hart.

"You speak as if your soul is something of value but it is worthless like your mission from the Powers has been. Do you remember Jasmine and what she did and how do you know that she was not acting on the Powers' instructions?" snorted the Ram

"It is not about the Powers or the Shanshu or where you come from it is about what you do" replied Angel angrily. He fought against this bigger opponent and the Ram attempted to punch him while Angel used his vampire speed to dodge and then launched an uppercut aimed at Ram's jaw.

"Good one vampire but can you face your past?" asked the Ram and suddenly figures appeared and some were dressed in eighteenth century garb while others looked more contemporary.

"Don't you recognize me big brother and what you did to our family" said a young girl with an Irish accent

"Kathy is that you?" asked Angel shocked

"You had this innate potential for evil Liam and just stop fighting and accept the Ram's terms and you can be with Mother again" replied Kathy laughing

"Yes, we have come to take you home to hell where you belong" said the ghost of Penn

"Penn I am sorry for turning you but that was Angelus not me" said Angel feeling confused at seeing all these figures from his past surrounding him.

"You are no champion Angel just a monster with blood on your hands" said Jenny Calendar now slapping him.

"Angel do not despair old friend as Spike and your son and everybody needs you to keep fighting" said a new voice belonging to Doyle.

"Doyle is that you?" asked Angel

"Yes, it is and I am proud of you and don't give in to these lies and the Angel I knew always kept on fighting and you have a son to be proud of now so return to him" replied Doyle

"These are all illusions and I refuse to accept blame for the crimes of Angelus as while he might be inside me, he is not me and I have done bad things with a soul and people such as Buffy, my son , Cordelia, Wesley and Fred have forgiven me" shouted Angel at the Ram and the illusions disappeared.

"Nice work vampire but your suffering is about to begin" commented the Ram and he breathed fire from his mouth and Angel ducked to one side. Before drawing a sword and attacking the monster and then he finally stabbed the Ram through then throat and the monster laid still and there were sudden growls from it.

"Oh, why won't you die" barked Angel in frustration and could see Buffy and the rest of the team attacking the vampires who were still around after the alternate Whirlwind had been defeated.

"You have only just wounded me vampire and now prepare for your doom" said the Ram and he had six arms and they all attacked Angel from all directions and it was enough for Angel to block his strikes and finally managed to cut off arms but they kept growing back and the vampire realized that he was in the fight for his unlife against a Senior Partner something that he did not know how to kill and he decided to use his speed to avoid attacks let the monster tire himself out and then he stabbed the Ram in the eye and it bellowed in pain and then Angel stabbed it in the area of the brain and the massive beast laid still.

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Meanwhile Spike was facing the Wolf and he was busy trying to avoid the snapping jaws of the monster.

"Be a good lad and play dead for me" said Spike

"Well William you impressed me in killing the alternate version of your sire and was it for the Slayer? She will never love you not with Angel there so kill him and we will give you everything" said the Wolf

"No! while I may not like Peaches you are the true monsters behind the suffering of humanity" barked Spike and he punched the Wolf and then cursed in pain as the hide of the monster was too thick.

"Foolish vampire and if you will not be turned then you will be destroyed" growled the Wolf

"Oh, are you now quoting Star Wars at me and when did the Senior Partners find time to watch movies?" replied Spike

"Wolfram and Hart did have considerable investments in the movie industry so we all know the lines of films that we like" said the Wolf gloatingly and then he formed the two shapes of two women and one was black and the other was Chinese and they both attacked Spike.

"I am sorry for killing you love but I have a soul now" said Spike

"I don't care as you killed me before I had the chance to find love" growled the Chinese Slayer in Mandarin

"Yes, Spike and Buffy is a disgrace to the Slayer line to let an animal like you back into her life and in my day vampires and Slayers did not have meaningful conversations let alone dating and can you take Buffy into the sun or give her children. I do not think so" said Nikki Wood smiling cruelly.

"Well Angel managed to do it with Darla and while I might live forever and Buffy is mortal, I do love her" protested Spike

"Really and can you stick around when Buffy gets old enough to be your grandmother or will you run?" reasoned Nikki

"I will stay as long as the lady wants me too" replied Spike

"That's the whole point William and you and my daughter make a good match and I have seen you watch over Dawn when Buffy had died so don't give in to these lies. While I could not understand why she would choose being a Slayer over a normal life. I see now that it is not up to me who Buffy chooses to love as my daughters are headstrong young women and thanks again for looking after Dawnie but if you ever hurt them, I will haunt you forever" said the ghost of Joyce Summers before vanishing.

"It was an honour to meet you Joyce and to share coca with you both Buffy and Little Bit will be safe with me" replied Spike genuinely and he roared and then attacked the Wolf driving it back and the bigger creature that resembled a Wolf finally had its jaw torn off by Spike's hands. But it kept on growling and moving towards Spike

"Oh, come on I have just torn off your jaw mate" shouted Spike

"It is only a flesh wound William" croaked the Wolf from its body and they resumed their battle finally Spike managed to put it down for good after about an hour of fighting.

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Connor was fighting the Hart and the deer like monster breathed fire which Connor dodged and then three figures approached him.

"You have been a bad boy Steven and you were too much like Angelus to be saved" said Holtz angrily

"His name is Angel and you never cared for me but just used me to get back at my true father" retorted Connor

"If you had seen what he and Darla did to my family then you would have done the same" replied Holtz hotly.

"Well you should have posted guards at your home in Yorkshire before rushing off to confront Angelus and Darla back in the day" said Connor angrily

"Good one Connor my son and Daddy is so proud of you for bedding Cordelia and Faith and I feel so close to you right now and you must enjoy that Slayer stamina as I know that I did with Buff" said Angelus

"You are not my father Angelus but Angel is my true father" said Connor feeling rather worried at being confronted by Angelus and Holtz

"Really and that is not what you said to me last time we laid eyes on each other and Angel was trying to become me when he slept with Darla" replied Angelus laughing and the laugh sent shivers up Connor's spine.

"You are no hero but the symbol of strife, pain and violence and I could have saved you Father from Angel's path and taking up with that brunette murderer disgusts me. I do not intend to call her stepmother" said Jasmine's ghost spitefully.

"I am not sorry for driving my fist through your head Jasmine and how can I be your Father? When you look African American and me and Cordelia are both white" reasoned Connor and the three monsters laughed at him.

"Connor please don't give in to these mind games and help your father and William to finish the task at hand" said a blonde woman

"Who are you?" asked Connor

"I had once reached out to you but you were filled with confusion and did not listen to me" said the woman

"Darla? Mother" stammered Connor

"Yes, it is me and Angel and I and even Holtz do love you as you made me give up my life for yours. Holtz raised you in Quor Toth as a son and kept you alive despite being my son with Angel and Angel signed a deal with Wolfram and Hart to give you the life that he and I could not" reasoned Darla

"Holtz, Jasmine and Angelus are all lies and I refuse to take part in this charade of believing that they are real as my real dad loves you and I know my adoptive family do as well so there is nothing that you can do to me" bellowed Connor to the Hart and he stabbed the monster several times and then it laid still but suddenly then the three Senior Partners joined together to make one being.

"You have defeated the forms that we have used in your dimension now you will experience the full wrath of Wolfram and Hart" bellowed the gigantic monster and then it breathed flames preventing anyone from coming inside and helping the three champions. Buffy screamed out Spike's name while Faith looked as if she wanted to run through the flames and had to be dragged back by Xander.

"This is not fair" said Angel and they all attacked the monster at once using strategy to keep it off balance and between them they managed after an hour of intense fighting and Angel pulling Connor away from its snapping jaws to put it down and the flames stopped and the three champions stumbled out now feeling very tired.

"Hey there heroes" said Faith and she pounced on Connor kissing him senseless and some people laughed at the sight.

"Ouch Faith I am a bit sore but after a week I should be alright" replied a wincing Connor

"Hey Spike and guess what I am cookies now and you get to eat me" said Buffy blushing

"Really luv and I just need to tell the old man that we are going to London to see the nibblet and I have lots to tell you before I eat you luv" said Spike smiling

"If you ever hurt her Spike you will regret it" said Angel

"If I ever hurt Buffy again then you will not need to stake me as I will do it myself" said Spike seriously.

Angel quietly walked away accepting that Buffy and Spike were well suited together and besides he had a girlfriend of his own.

"I am glad to have known you and loved you Angel even the bad parts such as Angelus and even though I am in love with Spike I would not changed the time that we had spent together for the world" shouted Buffy

"You love me Slayer?" questioned an awed Spike

"Yes, I do William and I did not want too but god help me I do" said a laughing Buffy

"Take care of yourself Buffy and take care of Spike" whispered Angel and he walked down the street.

"Hi there stranger and do you fancy a ride" said a voice belonging to a pretty blonde girl who was watching him. A Plymouth sports car was behind her and Connor was with Faith looking at them with fond expressions.

"Nina were you there fighting with the Slayers" asked Angel

"Yes, I was in the background but I got one vampire and did you see Buffy and Spike go to London?" asked Nina

"Look after my dad Nina and I will be back to visit him when I am on holiday but now I need to complete my degree at Stanford" said Connor

"I will do my best to take care of him Connor and you finish your degree and invite us for the graduation ceremony if it is at night" said Nina

"Do you need a lift there?" asked Angel

"No thanks as Faith has promised to drive me there" said Connor and the young couple left.

"So now what happens now?" asked Angel

"How about we start Angel Investigations together as partners and help the helpless" suggested Nina

"That's perfect" said Angel

"I thought so and get in the car boyfriend" replied Nina and they drove off to a new adventure of helping the helpless

Epilogue

The evening flight from L.A to Heathrow was packed and many people saw a bleach blond man with his blonde companion laughing and joking as they settled in their seats.

"What time was Dawn supposed to meet us at the airport" asked Buffy

"The platelet when I spoke to her after she had stopped shouting at me said that she will meet us about 10 am" replied Spike

"Hold my hand Spike to reassure me that this no dream" said Buffy

"I will hold your hand Slayer for as long as you will have me" reassured Spike

"How does forever work for you" asked Buffy

"Forever works fine with me love" replied Spike smiling genuinely. Life had been a funny thing as he was turned by Drusilla back in the day but was saved by a petite blonde sitting next to him.

In New York city two years later

"How are the Slayers coming along?" asked Cordelia

"Rona is doing fine and so far we have clearly cleared a new nests" replied Xander and they were in each other arms and they were kissing passionately.

"How about getting married" panted Xander in between kisses

"As long as you don't leave me the altar" replied Cordelia

"I love you Cordy and I will never leave you" said Xander and they were in bed together.

The end and I would like to thank Starway Man for following my story and giving me kind and constructive reviews.


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